Not Another Dramione
by WhiteRoses13
Summary: While trying to stay loyal to their own characters, as Head Boy and Girl, the two of them develop something forbidden. But will it all work out? Is it meant to be, or was it always fated to end in heartbreak and tragedy?
1. Chapter 1

**Written post DH. Don't treat this like the Bible and take it too seriously.

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It had only been a week since the war, but the paranoia did not go away; the fear that there was still something out there trying to kill Hermione and her two best friends. She feared that it would be like this for the rest of her life. She wasn't entirely wrong. For the rest of their days, the three of them would still keep their wands concealed beneath their pillows at night, and were almost always on subconscious guard. But for now, she tried to let the relief set in. It wasn't easy. She hadn't slept very well since Lord Voldemort fell to Harrys wand seven days ago. In that time, she'd gotten about twelve hours sleep, so she was on edge and cranky almost all the time. Not to mention Ron had barely looked at her since she'd kissed him in the Room of Requirement. Every time he did, he turned very red and became flustered and embarrassed which meant he then became very defensive, usually asking her angrily why she was looking at him so much. Harry himself had been unusually calm. Hermione suspected he was on a lengthy prescription of Madam Camilla's Calming Draught from Madam Pomfrey.

Hermione sighed. She was sitting in the dining room of No. 12 Grimmauld Place with Ron and Harry. There was a lengthy and awkward silence, broken occasionally by Harrys content sighs.

Grimmauld Place had had to have been expanded a good couple of meters in all directions as all the remaining teachers had come back along with a couple of families that needed extra protecting from remaining Death Eaters. This was now one of the last safe places out there.

Hermione looked up. She looked at Harry and his little smile, then at Ron. He was fiddling with a hole in the tablecloth. His face was slowly turning red, he knew Hermiones eyes were on him. She looked away, he'd have started another shouting match if she didn't. She didn't know why, but the silence was pressing on the back of her brain like a weight and with every second that passed she became more and more annoyed and angry. Hermione wasn't usually a violent person, but she was getting so aggravated by the second, she knew that if she didn't break something soon, she'd crack and probably start hexing Ron and Harry… especially Ron.

Good god… what had gotten into her? On top of the mounting rage she was feeling, she now felt upset and angry at herself too. Without warning she jumped up from her chair and ran out of the room. She could hear Harry tell Ron he should go after her as she ran up the stairs. Oh if only he would. All she needed was a hug and a shoulder to cry on. Hope welled inside her for a second, but it was ripped away and hurt pilled itself on top of her already conflicting emotions when she heard the tone of voice Ron usually used when he was making excuses not to do something.

She ran faster to the top floor, it had been uninhabited since Sirius had died. Plus, there was no one around to hear her anyway. She flung herself into the old dusty room, slamming the door behind her. It cracked and almost fell of its hinges more because of old age rather than Hermiones strength. She looked around in fury, trying to find something... something she could destroy that no one would miss. She tore the drapes from the old four poster bed, kicked and punched a chest of drawers to oblivion and tore the doors of a wardrobe from it's hinges. It still wasn't enough. She pulled her wand out and blew it to pieces.

This was a big mistake. The room was covered in decades of dust, and this paired with a spark caused the entire room to ignite in an almighty explosion as each particle caught fire. Hermione screamed and ducked. After a while, she looked up. Everything in the room was burned to a cinder, but there was no remaining fire as there should have been. She noticed she was standing in a part of the floor that had remained unburned, and she assumed that this was how she was still alive. But what had happened?

"For a Mudblood, you don't know very much about how Muggle fire works, do you Granger?"

Hermione turned slowly. Draco Malfoy was standing a foot from her, in the section of floor that had remained safe. She was shocked to say the least.

Malfoy put his wand back inside his robes. "Speechless for once. Looks like you're finally learning how to behave like a Mudblood."

"You… you…"

"Saved your ass? Yes I did. You might want to clean this up before anyone finds out what happened, your pristine Golden Child status might be lost." He turned to leave.

"A… but.. what…"

Malfoy snickered. "For the smartest Witch of her age, you are acting the dunce."

Hermione looked offended, but gathered her senses. "How?" Was all she could manage.

"I shouldn't have to explain myself to a Mudblood. But maybe it'll teach you some respect. There's a Library hidden behind that bookshelf," Malfoy pointed to what would have been Hermiones next point of destruction after the wardrobe. "I've been reading in there since we got here, I put a Muffliato charm on this room every time I come here. I heard your ruckus and came out in time to see you nearly kill yourself. I should point out to you that I only saved your mediocre ass because your people saved my family. I don't know if you Mudbloods or half-bloods have the same concept of honour as we Purebloods have, but ever since you took us into hiding, we have been indebted to you, and now, we are even."

Hermione was still gaping.

"I trust you will not talk of this, I don't wish to have shame brought on my family. And I will keep your secret of your unladylike temper-tantrum. Another thing we Purebloods are honour bound to do is to keep our promises. Don't make me regret saving your ass." And he walked out of the room.

Hermione spent the next hour sitting in a corner by the bed, contemplating what had happened. After she'd gotten over the initial shock, she got up and proceeded to spend the next five hours returning the room to its former dusty, decrepit and decaying glory.

By the time she had finished, it was one in the morning. It wasn't at all surprising that neither Harry, nor Ron came to look for her. Harry was probably convinced she was 'just fine' being in the state of mind he was and Ron wouldn't want to face the concept of running into her by herself.

'It never ceases to amaze me,' she thought as she sat down with a copy of "Hogwarts: A History" from 1028, 'how people can manage to stay in character sometimes.'


	2. Chapter 2

The war had been over for almost a year. No one had realised it would take quite so long to repair the Castle, although, admittedly, it was a mighty big castle. On an early morning in late July, a pack of Owls flocked No. 12. They were carrying letters from Hogwarts. The writing was sharp and upright. It screamed of Professor McGonagall. They were thicker than usual, especially for Hermione. She opened her letter, sitting at the end of Harrys bed. Harry's letter lay at his side unnoticed. He was too engrossed in the "utter beauty" of his moth eaten quilt cover. Madame Pomfrey had to up his dosage of Calming Draught.

Hermione scanned the page, with both a feeling of dread and excitement. The school year was to resume for all previous students. Hogwarts would be accepting the usual First Years too, so the school would be more packed than usual. Hermione pulled the rest of the parchment from her envelope. A golden badge fell and slid across the floor and came to a stop next to Ron's foot.

"Ron, could you pass that back to me, please?" Hermione asked. He didn't answer; he just turned red and looked away. His attitude hadn't improved at all, in fact, it had gotten worse. "Oh honestly Ron, grow up." She stood, strode to where he was standing and picked it up herself.

Ron burst out. "You're not my wife; stop telling me what to do."

Hermione rolled her eyes. Her heart and mind, protecting her sanity had blessed her with the ability to place all the feelings she had for him into the back of her mind, where the doors were barricaded until he matured and grew a sense of sympathy. Ron was by no means a mean-spirited person; he was just very emotionally immature.

Hermione finally looked at her badge. In scarlet red, curly font were the two letters 'H.G.'

She couldn't believe it! She'd made Head Girl! She'd been dreaming of this day since she had first read about it in Hogwarts: A History. She jumped up and down excitedly. Ron turned on his heel and left the room. Harry looked up and smiled absent mindedly at Hermione.

Her happiness slowly faded. She didn't really have anyone to celebrate with. Her parents didn't know she existed, Ron was a moron, Harry was coked up on drugs and the rest of the Wesley's were still in heavy mourning.

She trudged slowly up the stairs to the hidden library Malfoy had discovered. Ever since that event, they had shared the Library, neither saying a word to each other, but accepting each others quiet company. Hermione was okay reading with Malfoy in the room, as long as he wasn't insulting her. Ever since his parents had left to move back to their manor, Malfoy had become far more tolerable. He no longer called her Mudblood, but gave her the generous previous title of 'Granger.'

As she entered, she found him sitting in his usual high-backed chair, perfect posture as always, with a book resting neatly on his lap. He looked up as she entered, gave her a curt nod and returned to his book.

Between them, they had read almost the entire library within the year, the only shelves left untouched were the very top ones, which Hermione could in no way reach and Malfoy could barely close his fingers around the bottom edge. Hermione scanned the shelves for a while, before spotting a very interesting looking book on the topmost shelf. "Etiquette and Manners of the Modern Pureblood. Revised Edition 1908." It looked like it hadn't been touched since then. But of course, this was the Black family household. Above everyone, no mere book would tell them how to act. Glancing quickly at Malfoy to make sure he wasn't watching, she took out her wand and slowly levitated out. Unfortunately it had been wedged in between the other books for so long, five or six others toppled down on top of Hermione, narrowly missing her. The Etiquette book was still gliding down slowly, almost comically beneath the barrage of dust that was assaulting Hermione's lungs. She rushed out of the cloud of dust into the back of the library to catch her breath. There was a dull thud behind her as the Etiquette book finally reached the floor. After she heaved in lungfuls of fresh air, she turned around and expected to be faced with the prospect of cleaning her mess up, however the dust was gone and the books were back on their shelves. Malfoy was standing in front of her, holding out the Etiquette book, his face emotionless. Hermione took it from him, speechless. He turned to return to his chair.

"Thank you." She said quietly. Malfoy inclined his head in acknowledgement and said "That's quite an interesting book. We have one back in the Manor. It was written before Muggleborns were considered lower-class. But we also have the second edition. The 1909 one, opinions changed with that." And he returned to his own book.

Hermione stood in the same spot for a while, wondering about the little interaction. Malfoy had been acting very different lately, almost Gentlemanly. What was his angle? Hermione contemplated his ulterior motives as she moved across the room and sat in her normal soft, but not too soft chair to read.

She searched through the contents. There were chapters relating to How to Treat a Lady and How to Treat a Gentleman, different sections for men and women. She flipped to the How to Treat a Lady chapter, glancing up to make sure Malfoy wasn't looking. But he seemed to be oblivious to anything around him, so engrossed was he in his book.

This chapter seemed to strike cords in Hermione's memory, some of the Etiquette rules here had been applied to her recently by Malfoy and she was sure that if she looked through the chapters on friendships with other men, she'd find examples of the politeness exhibited by Malfoy to the rest of the inhabitants of No.12. It seemed as though Malfoy was trying to prove himself to them all. He was trying to show his noble side, though he obviously didn't really know how to go about it. Nobility wasn't in a book, though any girl would swoon for the things in this book, the perfect gentleman. She was halfway through the book when she glanced at her watch. It was 2.30 in the morning. Just a few more pages, she thought.

She awoke suddenly as the door of the Library closed. She looked up confused. When had she fallen asleep? Malfoy had re-entered. "You're still here?" he said surprised.

"It's only 2.30 in the morning." She said groggily as she tried to sit up. She had a bad pain in her neck, due to the position she'd been in.

"No, Granger, it's noon. You must have slept here all night." He sat back down in his chair.

Hermione sat up a bit more. She realised she was covered in a coat of sorts. She distinctly remembered there was something in that book about covering a Lady if she was cold. Hermione ignored this. As she pushed the coat off of her, there was a clatter and a gold badge fell out of one of the pockets. She caught a glimpse of it. It had the letters H.B. written in cursive green on the front. Malfoy picked it up and put it in his pocket.

"I'm going to go to bed for some proper sleep." She didn't really know why she was telling Malfoy this; her excuse was just light conversation. Malfoy looked like he was considering standing during her departure, but thought it too formal and just gave her a nod and a "Goodnight Granger."

So… Malfoy was Head Boy, was he? Oh this year would be interesting indeed.


	3. Chapter 3

"It's lashing!" Hermione exclaimed as she looked out her bedroom window. They were to leave for the Hogwarts Express that afternoon. Harry looked up, his dosage of the Calming Draught had been reduced drastically, as the medicine would inhibit his study. He was almost back to normal now; he just lost his temper a lot less.

Ron was as grumpy as ever of a morning, but ever since their shouting match, he'd stopped acting, in Hermione's opinion, like a child. He would talk to her now, but would still turn red. Hermione suspected Harry was beginning to slip Ron some of the Draught, and that was keeping him from blowing up in her face every time she spoke to him.

The three of them trudged down the stairs into the kitchen. Hermione set to work on making the breakfast. As a Muggleborn, she knew how to cook the Muggle way, Harry was well used to not having food prepared for him in a hurry, but Ron, just like when they were in the Tent, what seemed like years ago; grew impatient and very hungry as soon as the smell of cooking food reached him. Hermione had decided, ever since the Tent, she really needed to learn to cook in case the need ever arose again. She didn't find it very hard, it was just another skill that needed developing. A half an hour later, she put a plate of pancakes down in front of the two of them and replicated them couple of times over, in case anyone else wanted some.

Later, on the train Hermione and Ron went off to the prefects compartment and didn't return for another two hours. As Head Boy and Head Girl, Hermione and Draco had to give instructions to the new prefects, most of them had been there the previous year and the new ones weren't too inquisitive, prefects were normally studious pupils and knew their duties as soon as they got their badges.

On the way back to their compartments, Draco slid off into a compartment of his own. Hermione looked back and noticed it was completely empty. She also noticed as people passed and looked in, they were whispering and pointing at him.

Hermione was reminded of fifth year, when the Daily Prophet had been telling everyone that Harry and Dumbledore were dangerously unstable and liars. She felt sorry for him. She'd always been an empathetic person, S.P.E.W. made that obvious. As she and Ron approached their compartment, she noticed there was a muttering crowd along the way, and as they got closer to their compartment the crowd was becoming more and more congested. Eventually Ron had to push himself in front of her to try and crate a pathway for them into the compartment, muttering irritably as he went. Hermione followed close behind, she wasn't nearly as tall as Ron, so she had no idea what was happening, whether someone was hurt or something was wrong with the train. Eventually Ron turned to Hermione and said "You're Head Girl, can't you use that to get past all these people? Percy's done it before."

"That's not a half bad idea," she said to Ron. The crowds mutterings were getting quite loud now. She cleared her throat. Nothing. "Excuse me, I…" she spoke in a slightly raised voice, nobody took any notice. "Excuse me! I wish to…" she shouted. Not a dent. Growing frustrated she pointed her wand at her throat. "EXCUSE ME!" she bellowed, and the crowd fell silent and turned to her. "If you don't mind, we would like to get back to our compartment, thank you very much." The crowd didn't move. Hermione spoke in a magnified voice again. "I should remind you that I have been made Head Girl and if you all don't disperse at this very instant, I shall see to it that you ALL get a months long detention from Professor McGonagall." Hermione lowered her wand. The crowd began to shift steadily muttering grumpily.

"Who does she think she is?"

"That's Harry Potters friend."

"Is she going out with him?"

"Didn't even get to see him."

"What are they on about?" Ron muttered to Hermione. She shrugged her shoulders but had an inkling. Harry looked up one they entered, he had his face hidden behind a book.

"Bloody hell Harry. Did you see the crowd out there, you'd swear someone famous was on board." Ron sat down and grabbed a chocolate frog, stuffing it into his mouth.

Harry looked over the edge of his book with a raised eyebrow. He looked over at Hermione who was shaking her head, laughing slightly. Ron was so oblivious sometimes. She knew she'd been right.

"They were trying to catch a glimpse of you weren't they?" She asked Harry. He nodded and looked at the window of the compartment door, they were starting to flock again. Ron looked up and he said "Oh" in an 'I understand now' way. Hermione pulled her wand from her robes and pointed it at the door window. The people peering in looked frightened and ducked. But nothing seemed to happen. As they looked through the window again, they looked annoyed and angry. They slouched away soon after.

"Hermione, what did you do?" Harry asked as people started to pass the compartment with out giving it a second glance.

"Just a concealment charm. All they see now is an empty compartment with the words 'Compartment Closed' over it." She smiled. Harry looked relieved.

"Why are they so much more interested in you now though?" Ron asked. "I mean, they knew you were gonna kill You-Know-Who since they started calling you The Chosen One."

"Well yeah, but I guess actually doing it is something different, isn't it? I am not leaving this train with that crowd. I'll stay under my invisibility cloak."

Hermione nodded as she lay down on the seat. She felt very tired and was in need of a good nap if she was to meet McGonagall before the feast. She could feel herself drifting off, but about a second later could hear her name being called by Harry.

"Hermione, wake up! We'll be there soon."

"What do you mean, I haven't even slept yet."

"You were asleep for two hours."

"What? Why didn't you wake me sooner?" she jumped up and began to pull on her robes. Fifteen minutes later, they were on their way to the castle. On arriving, Hermione told Harry and Ron that she needed to meet up with Professor McGonagall. Waving goodbye, she made her way to the Headmistresses office. Looking around, she could see where the castle had been blown to pieces and her heart leapt as she passed the place where Fred had died.

"Ninox." She said as she reached the stone gargoyle. It let her pass. As she entered, she found Draco was there already. Professor McGonagall motioned for her to take a seat.

"Now Miss Granger, I had decided not to explain things to Mr. Malfoy before you arrived to save us the trouble of repetition. This year, you will have the responsibilities of keeping not only the students in shape, but the prefects too. You must always exercise vigilance. You need to make sure that no prefect abuses their power. Unknown to all prefects is that every year, the new Head boy and Head Girl review every detention a prefect gives, to make sure it is not biased or unnecessary. I trust, Mr. Malfoy, that you have outgrown that stage of your life."

Draco gave her a curt nod, not once breaking eye contact, determined not to appear weakened or embarrassed by this statement.

"I will also hope you see fit to not mention your surveillance of the detention slips to the Prefects. That information has never been breached before, and I doubt you two would want to be the first two to let it slip, as it were."

The both of them paled slightly. Never in over 1000 years? That type of infamy was not at all attractive.

"Now, about your lodgings. As in the years before, the Head Boy and Girl stayed in their common rooms. However, in the Victorian Era, the two Heads shared the same common room and bathroom which separated two different bed chambers. Anyone with an idea of the history of the Victorian Era will know the reason for this."

Hermione and Draco nodded. They knew, and turned slightly red. Professor McGonagall noticed this and cleared her throat.

"Yes, well we have decided to reopen those chambers. You will find your common room along the west corridor after the Great Hall. We believe that keeping the Head Boy and Girl apart is less productive, so we have kept you closer. Now it has been refurnished, but the colours of the two previous houses are still in the design of the room. Those were Slytherin and Ravenclaw. I assume you will be taking the Slytherin Room, Mr. Malfoy. And Ms. Granger, you can adjust the design of the Ravenclaw room to your liking, should you wish it. Now it is time for the feast, I'm sorry I have delayed you two, you should get back to the feast, you will find that I am already there."

Draco and Hermione looked surprised, but left obediently, as Professor McGonagall took a gold necklace from the inside her robes, turned it and melted into the air.

"Time-Turner," Hermione thought. She and Draco made their way quietly back to the Great Hall, and sure enough, upon entering; there was Professor McGonagall in the Headmistresses chair. Hermione and Draco both made their way to their house tables, upon arriving, people shied away from Draco, as though he was highly contagious. He didn't look phased, just sat proud and looked and the remaining first years being sorted. Hermione, however almost had to fight fan-girls out of her way to take a seat next to Harry.

"What new developments?" Harry asked.

"Guess." Hermione replied sardonically.

"You and Malfoy have to share a common room?"

"How did you know?" She gasped in feigned surprise.

"Anyway, it's not like it's happened _ever_ before." Harry said sarcastically.


	4. Chapter 4

After the feast, Hermione got up to leave with Ron and Harry. She said goodbye to the outside the Great Hall, the two of them heading straight and Hermione heading west. She'd been down this corridor many times before and had never seen any indication there was a room that had been closed off for nearly two hundred years. As she walked down, she caught something out of the corner of her eye, but as soon as she turned, it was gone. She walked another few paces, before deciding to go back and find out what it was.

As she went back, it happened again, just out of the corner of her eye. Eventually she was able to pinpoint what she was seeing. Every time she passed a certain part of the wall, it would shimmer slightly, as if there was an illusion in front of it. She turned to face it fully and a section of the wall melted away. There was a door there. Something again caught her peripheral vision. She looked down. Her badge was glowing very slightly. She looked up again. The door was very solid, standing proud as if it had been there forever. She walked toward it and pulled it open. It was a very heavy looking oak door, but it opened with ease.

Inside was a brightly lit high ceilinged large room. In the right corner there was a large white marble fireplace surrounded by turquoise embroidered armchairs and couches. To the left there was a notice board where they would organise events, and as soon as the stuck those events up on that notice board, the same would appear in all the house common rooms and the staff room. Next to the notice board there was a wide flight of wooden stairs that reminded Hermione of the Grand Staircase of the Titanic. Directly in front of her, on the far side of the room were bookcases packed with books. Upon seeing this, Hermione almost skipped over. Her eyes lit up with excitement.

"First editions…" she whispered to herself, absolutely elated. First editions of both classical Wizard and Muggle books. "Great Expectations, The Fountain of Fair Fortune,The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Poems by Tennyson…" Hermione gasped and nearly dropped the books she was holding. Hurriedly, but carefully putting them back, she came upon a sight that made her heart beat twice as fast. She pulled the book down with trembling fingers fearing it would crumble in her hands and ran her hand over the title; "As You Like It."

Hermione nearly ran to one of the chairs in front of the fire to read it. She placed it on the table and waved her wand over it very lightly. 'Oh thank god…' she thought as she found there was a Preserving Charm on it, so she wouldn't be able to harm it.

Opening it, she began to read; 'As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion bequeathed me by will but poor a thousand crowns, and, as-'

She heard the oak door open, and Draco walked in. She greeted him with a bright smile. She was way too happy to even think of being mean. But Draco had a sour look on his face, he only nodded in return. He didn't even glance around, but headed straight up the wooden stairs and out of sight. Hermione heard a door slam somewhere above, and was perplexed. But she decided not to interfere.

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**Well lads, I decided to keep this one ridiculously short. I will not be uploading for a while as I am off to London. And as a response to some of the reviews I can predict... yes, I am being mean, but that's how I like it.**


	5. Chapter 5

It was midnight before Hermione tore herself away from the ancient books. She had to be up early in the morning. Hermione was always eager to go to her first classes. As she walked up the oak stairs, on the right were portraits of the old Head Boys and on the left, the Head Girls. Hermione did a double take as she passed one of the Head Boys. She read the plate beneath the portrait.

"_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_" Hermione looked at the smiling face. He had swept back auburn hair, a straight nose, but had the same half moon glasses and twinkling blue eyes that shone with youthful energy now, rather than wisdom years later.

"Professor Dumbledore?" she whispered.

"Professor? I don't know about 'professor' Miss, but I am a Dumbledore, yes. Soon to be a very famous wizard, I trust you have heard of me?"

"Um… well… yes."

"Ha ha! I knew it. Tell me Miss, what year is it? This room has been locked for so long, I was one of the last Heads to live here."

"It's 1998."

"Really? A hundred years? What has happened?" Dumbledore leaned forward eagerly.

"I'm sorry sir, but I have lessons tomorrow, I really must sleep."

"Oh yes, yes, of course, I am sorry. But I would put a Filter Charm on your door. The man who ran up the stairs in a mood earlier, the blonde one? He's been smoking ever since. 'Madam Morribles Magic Tobacco' if I am not mistaken, A personal favourite of my own." Hermione thanked Dumbledore and walked off to her room. As she entered the luxurious stone and wood hallway, she noticed two doors at either end. One of them had a green and silver coat of arms with a snake on them. This was of course, Draco's room. This was also obvious from the light blue smoke that was slowly leaking from the crack in the door, where Hermione could also hear some hauntingly Lullabied music from the room.

Curiosity was flowing within her, but it was not strong enough to bypass her caution, she knew Draco was dangerous when he flew off the handle, and she knew he didn't want to be disturbed.

Walking down the hallway, she saw the bronze and blue coat of arms with an eagle on the door. With a quick transfiguration charm, she changed it to gold and red with a lion. Upon entering the room, she gasped. It was beautiful! Brass furniture upholstered with royal blue silk and embroidery. The four poster bed was also extravagantly decorated with brass leaves and flowers, the bed clothing were the same royal blue as the furniture with bright white on the underside. Hermione decided there and then that she was too in love with the colours to change them to red and gold, which she'd always found a bit gaudy. She'd always loved the colour of royal blue. Quickly changing into her pyjamas, she couldn't wait to climb into the bed that looked as if it could relax even a Blast Ended Skrewt.

The next day, Hermione was up bright and early. She had never slept so well in her entire life. It was still rather early, so she thought she might get some recreational reading in before breakfast. Bouncing down the stairs happily but quietly, so as not to wait the portraits she realised it was the first time in a while she'd felt so contented. Upon entering the common room she noticed the addition of two new portraits and immediately thought 'oh no.'

Portraits of Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin were placed about three feet from each other and standing in front of them was Draco. But they weren't at all in bad spirits, in fact they were laughing with each other. Hermione thought for a minute and the noticed that the portraits looked young, 'it must have been before they started feuding,' Hermione thought.

"Oh! Hello young lady!" Gryffindor called to her in a booming voice.

"Hello sir," she replied timidly, "how are you?"

"Very good my dear! I hear you're the smart one! Glad to have you in my house young lady! Glad to have you!"

"Granger, McGonagall wants to see us as soon as possible."


	6. Parody Chapter

**Parody Chapter**

Hermione and Draco arrived at the Headmistresses office wondering curiously what this could be about. They knocked and were granted entry. McGonagall was sitting at her desk and motioned for them to sit, in the same way she had done the day before.

"I'm sure you two are wondering what this is about." She said in her usual stern voice. They both nodded silently. "This Hallowe'en, I have decided to leave the cannon of the story completely and throw a masquerade ball on All Hallows Eve. It is your job as Head Boy and Girl to organise it, seeing as I really couldn't be arsed myself."

Hermione and Draco glanced quickly at each other. '_Maybe she's cracked under stress._' Hermione thought.

'_Maybe she's high…_' Draco thought.

"Now, you have from now until the 20th of October to organise, sent out notifications, get the decorations, and so on and so forth… okay?" McGonagall asked them.

They nodded silently.

"Good." She looked at them silently for a couple of seconds. "I am finished…

They stared blankly at her again.

"Go away now..." she said, looking at them as if this request should have been obvious without words.

They got up slowly, still bewildered and left her office. They began to walk down to the Great Hall together. "Well that was odd…" Draco said to Hermione.

Having the two most diligent and smartest students in the school in charge of organising something meant that by the time October rolled around the Masquerade had been organised completely for nearly a week. That meant there was plenty of time for organising the clothes.

The day of the ball came. Draco had a plan; he was going to disguise himself as best as he could. He hadn't seen Hermione for an hour after she had retreated to her room to get ready. '_Women…_' he thought. After dying his hair black, he dyed over it again in a muddy blonde colour, making sure to give himself visible black roots. '_No one would think a Malfoy would leave himself so unkempt, even if he is now a social pariah._' He put on his white mask that swept from his forehead, down his nose and across his jaw and headed off. He glanced across at Hermione's room and he could still hear her bustling around. Heading down the stairs, the portrait of Professor Dumbledore called to him; "You're looking mighty good young sir. Where are you headed off to?"

"There is a Hallowe'en dance in the Great Hall."

"Really? Oh that's not fair. I wish there would have been one in my time. It would have given me the chance to meet such strapping men as yourself." Said Dumbledore suggestively.

Draco chuckled lightly. "I'm afraid not Albus, but thanks for the compliment." And he strode down the stairs.

As he entered the Great Hall, he looked around. Potter and Weasley were easy to spot with Ron's shocking red hair and the gaggle of girls surrounding Harry.

It was generally easy to tell which house people were in. Most of them wore their house colours or a close resemblance to it. He himself was wearing a dark green tail coat and dark green velvet cape. So dark it looked almost black.

Draco was enjoying the solitude he had. No one was throwing him reproachful glares or threatening glances. But he was also not used to being ignored by women. After a half an hour of women passing him by; he set his eyes on a girl in a scarlet red ball gown, with straight brown hair and a golden mask. As he approached her, she caught his eye, and watched him approach. He stood before her bowed and held out his hand as a request for a slow dance that was beginning. She giggled as girls do and placed her gloved hand in his. Draco proceeded to sweep this girl off her feet. As he looked down into her eyes, she kept smiling, blushing and glancing away. After an hour of dancing, they both began to tire, however by this time it was nearly 11.30. The girl he was dancing with curtseyed, apologised, claiming she had become very tired and needed to go back to her common room and rushed off, her huge gown fluttering behind her.

Draco looked after her for a couple of seconds, before he snapped back to reality and decided to go back to the table he sat at at the beginning of the Ball. However, he found it partially occupied by a girl in a sapphire blue dress with a black and silver mask and a very very drunk Ron Weasly.

Draco sat down opposite, unnoticed by the two of them. Ron was slurring to the girl and leaning in a bit too close to her.

"You know… me and Hermione were supposed to be a thing by now… bu-hic-but I told her that we had to… to… leave it for a while because she needed to corncrentrate on her study. But I miss her a lot now…and I know… I just know… that my pain… is all her fault… that bitch. What do you say we cause her pain too? Come with me out the back, no one will ever need to know… well... except for her…" Ron put his hand on her thigh. She removed it with an aura of disgust.

"Excuse me…um," she said "What was your name again?"

Ron looked like he'd just eaten something very very sour. "I-it's Ron, I'm Ron."

"Oh… Ron… I'm sorry, but I don't think it'll work between us-"

"Oh yeah? I didn't want to… burp… do anything with you anyway. Bloody Ravenclaws, all stuck up their own ass. Ugly too…" and he walked away.

The girl sighed in relief. She turned and saw Draco watching her humorously. "Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't see you there."

"That's quite a romantic conversation you were having there."

The girl laughed. "Yes, yes… he's quite the charmer." She said sarcastically. As she was laughing, Draco noticed a delicate sapphire necklace dancing around her neck. She noticed him looking at it. She held it in her hand and looked at it lovingly. "My parents gave me this after I got my good results in the O.W.L.'s. Well," she laughed again. "What do you expect?" She motioned at her blue dress.

"I miss them." She said quietly. Draco wasn't sure if he was supposed to hear that. She took a pocket watch from inside her dress and looked at the time. "Oh! It's nearly midnight! It's almost time for a ghosts show. Do you mind if I move to sit beside you? I can have a better view if I do."

Draco nodded. It was beginning to get cold. She was shivering. Draco held open his cape and invited her to wrap herself in it. She obliged gladly, pulling it tight around herself.

"You'd think they could put a heat charm on the place, when it's nearly midnight in a stone castle in winter."

Draco smiled.

"Smooth move, by the way," she said looking over at him, she was nearly cuddled into him at this point and he could feel her freezing skin through his clothes. "With the cloak…" she finished. He just smiled and glanced around, there weren't as many people here as before. He noticed Harry trying to tug Ron out of his chair and out of the door, while the girl in the red ball gown watched from beside them. Strange… hadn't she said she'd needed to leave?

"I've never seen a ghosts Hallowe'en show before, have you?" The girl cuddled to him asked. He looked at her again. They were so close.

"I have." They were getting closer.

"Was it any good?" her eyes were on his lips now.

"Good… enough." He said… their lips had just touched and-

FLASH!

Bright blinding white light filled the great hall as every single ghost in the castle flooded in. Nearly-Headless Nick, The Bloody Baron, The Fat Friar and The Grey Lady led the show.

"Bloody ghosts," Draco muttered grumpily. However the girl was sitting bolt upright, her eyes glittering with fascination at what was going on. The light from the moving ghosts flicked across her face, giving it a ghostly glow and making her seem evermore beautiful.

Draco realised not many people had stayed to watch the show. There were two Slytherins, about a hundred Hufflepuffs and nearly all of Ravenclaw house. There were barely any Gryffindors in sight. The girl in the red ball gown was long gone.

Draco looked down at the girl in the blue dress. Now that the show was over, she was obviously beginning to get tired. She took out her pocked watch. "Holy Jesus on a bike, it's 1.30! I really must be going back to my dorm!"

"Who's Jesus?"

The girl stood, "I'm so sorry, I've got to go." She swept down and gave him a hard kiss on the lips. With a smirk, she took her dress up in her hands and almost ran out of the double doors. Draco sat frozen for a few seconds before he rose and chased after her. He got to the doors, looked down the corridor in front of him, to his left and to his right, but she was nowhere in sight. Leaning back against the wall, he put his fingers to his lips, and realised she'd left lipstick on them. He smiled and gently rubbed it off.

When he got back to the common room, he saw Hermione had gotten back before him a while ago. Her shoes were up on the table as well as her handbag that had a very small ruby in the middle. Draco went to sleep that night with the scent of the girl still in his nostrils.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning, Draco awoke to banging on his bedroom door.

"Malfoy? Malfoy!" Hermione was shouting through the door.

"What? What do you want?" He said groggily, not appreciating the rude awakening.

"C'mon, get up; we need to clean up the Great Hall before breakfast!"

"Later…" he said, settling down to go back to sleep.

"Malfoy, I will come in there and get you up the hard way if I have to."

"Let the House Elves get it. That's what they're there for…"

He heard the door being forced open and something about the word "Aguamenti" registered in the back of his mind, but he was too tired to access it at that moment. His entire body suddenly became freezing as a huge torrent of icy water came splashing down on him. He felt his body seize up and release with the shock. The string of profanities that came out of his mouth would have made Voldemort blush.

Hermione, however, did not bat an eyelid. "Be ready in ten minutes." She turned and left his room.

"You could have killed me!" he shouted, rather stupidly after her. Fifteen minutes later he strode down the stairs, keeping the illusion that he still had any dignity, alive. Hermione had her arms crossed impatiently and was glaring at him.

"Finished putting on your make-up?" she snapped.

"Not much of a Lions remark, more of a kittens."

"Keep your forked tongue behind your teeth, we're late." She marched out of the oak doors, Draco followed at his own pace.

The Great Hall was a complete state. The school banners had been ripped from the walls, the floor was sticky with dried alcohol and fizzy drinks, one of the windows had been broken, there were crude words and phrases graffitied onto the walls in luminous magic paint and the sky above them was fuchsia and filled with dancing pears. Amazingly there were still five students all sitting at a table and drinking the last of the Firewhiskey, still in their dress robes. Hermione approached them as if she was about to hex them out. Draco couldn't hear her, but she was obviously giving them an earful, but they were having none of it. One of the bigger guys, completely off his face, stood before her. He was easily a foot and a half taller than her, Hermione was a rather short girl, and was yelling back at her.

For one heart stopping moment, Draco saw the guy raise his hand to her. Draco was about to run across the Hall to her aid, but before he could even put one foot in front of the other, there was a loud BANG and the guy threatening Hermione was blow fifteen feet away.

"GET OUT! ALL OF YOU!" she screamed. The remaining four at the table, stood and scrambled from the hall as quickly as it was possible for incredibly drunk teenagers. The student who'd been on the receiving end of Hermiones wrath was conscious, but too drunk to move. In the blink of an eye, she'd conjured up a stretcher, plopped him onto it and shot him out of the Great Hall and toward the Infirmary so fast, if he collided with a wall, it wouldn't be pretty.

Draco wasn't too sure what to do, but his spider senses told him he'd probably die if he went near Hermione. He decided to try to stay on her safe side for the moment and started to tidy up. As he moved around the hall, he ended up moving closer to Hermione. He could have sworn he heard her hair crackle with electricity. Unfortunately, she was in the way and Draco couldn't proceed to clean unless she moved.

"...Um... Herm-"

She turned to look at him and he thought he saw her eyes flash red. She stared hard at him for a few seconds then took a step to the side, out of the way. She turned and proceeded to bring the dancing pears from the ceiling. Though this resulted in an array of unchoreographed tap dancing pears running amuck all over the floor. As he continued with his tidying, he could hear their little squeals of discontent and they were zapped back into inanimate foods.

* * *

It took two hours for the Great Hall to be worthy of the title 'Great' again. They'd just finished putting the tables back before the first few stragglers came in for their breakfast. After all their work, the two of them were starving. Draco big Hermione adieu with his usual nod and went to sit at the Slytherin table. As usual, people avoided him like the plague. After Draco couldn't stomach the glares anymore, he retreated back to his room. But as we walked in and lit up a smoke, he saw a Masked Owl on the footboard of his bed, holding a letter. It was addressed to "The Man in the Cape"

He opened it curiously.


	8. Chapter 8

He opened it curiously. There were impressions of writing and scribbling out over the paper, which was an obvious indication that the letter he was about to read was not the first draft.

_Dear Man in the Velvet Green,_

_I really don't know how to start this letter. Out of my mask, I'm not a very smooth talker, like yourself, however, I managed to become a new person under that mask. And I liked it. Though it's the same in this letter. I don't know who you are, and I assume you don't know who I am. So I'm pretty much masked in this letter too. So I have decided to try and let my hair down, as it were, and just speak as myself, not worrying too much about sounding stupid. _

_As you can probably tell, this isn't the first letter I've thought out. At first, I was trying to be all mysterious and sexy, but that didn't really work out, and it just sounding quite stupid. So then it was exploring different areas. I tried to sound intelligent, witty, careless, free, cute, innocent, mischievous and all that jazz, but they still weren't really me. Anyway, you seemed to like the real me behind the mask, so, no more fakery. And I decided, seeing as I don't seem to have any talent in putting my words down on paper, I propose we meet again, in our masks and see how it goes. _

_I'll be by the west side of the lake at midnight tonight, if you're interested, by all means, please come along. If you don't turn up, well then, I guess I can take the hint._

_The Girl in Blue._

Dracos heart skipped a beat. He sat in the same position for a full ten minutes before he snapped out of it and actually moved.

There was a loud knock on his door, he jumped. "Y-yes?" He took a drag from his rollie and opened the door to see Hermione. "What is it, Granger?" he exhaled. The orange smoke clouded around her face.

"You missed our first class. You can't be starting the year like this. You're Head Boy now. You have to act responsibly."

"Hmmm? Oh. I forgot. It's only the first class of the day, Granger, there's no need to be so uptight about it."

She scrutinised him. "You're acting weird, Malfoy. What are you up to?" Her straightened hair fell over her shoulder as she crossed her arms.

"Nothing that concerns you, Granger. Please, excuse me." He closed the door. The smoke was still lingering around Hermione. She shook her head and walked back toward her room. She had an hour free before her next class, '_might as well get some reading in first._' She thought.

While inside, she started to skim through her textbooks. She'd already read and reread them time and time again, but her mind was elsewhere. She was in a strange mood today, she really didn't feel like reading, which wasn't really a first for her, she wasn't completely all about books after all, however, seeing as reading was pretty much the only hobby she had, she found herself bored and restless whenever the fancy left her. After a few minutes of not being able to think of anything to do, she decided to go and wonder about the castle a bit.

Hermione hadn't had any time to explore the castle since she got back, what with all her Head Girl duties. She was a little surprised when she realised that she'd been back in the castle for two months and hadn't had a good wander yet. It was a far cry different from the years before, which involved constant exploring beneath the invisibility cloak.

While walking along the ground floor corridors, she came across a corridor that she hadn't been down in a while. The classes that were usually held along here were mostly for first to third years, so she had no real reason to trek down them in the last few years. It was a shame really, as it had a beautiful view of the grounds behind the greenhouse that was filled with flowers, both magical and muggle, left to grow naturally.

While passing one of the windows, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. There was a gap in the sea of flowers floating in the wind. It was oval in shape, about four foot wide and nine foot long.

Hermione glanced up and down the corridors. There was no one around, so she jumped through the open archway window and walked toward it. As she approached the gap, the scene in front of her began to shift and shimmer. She pulled out her wand, just to be safe. She quickly realised it was a Disillusionment Charm. She approached cautiously, and as the thing being hidden in front of her came into full view, she stopped and stared in awe.

There were four life sized statues in front of her, two men and two women. They were the statues of the founders of Hogwarts. Salazar Slytherin, Helga Hufflepuff, Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw, their robes blowing in the wind. Slytherin had his wand by his side, looking sternly out into the distance, his straight hair flowing over his face in the wind, a familiar gilded gold locket around his neck. Hufflepuffs wand was pointed directly toward the sky, casting a protection spell over the castle, her waist length curly hair billowing out behind her, a cup at her feet. Gryffindors wand was pointed out straight in front of him, in attacking stance, the sword handle in his hand and the point on the ground. Ravenclaws wand was held out gracefully in front of her, her elbow and wrist bent, and determination on her face, the diadem, atop her head, her shoulder-length hair flowing out from below it.

There was a plaque at the foot of the statues;

_The Battle of Hogwarts_

_2__nd__ May 1998_

_All those loyal to our school will always be remembered._

Below that was a list of all the people who'd died in the battle. The list was sickeningly long.

"Hermione?"

She turned.

"Oh Neville, hello."

He walked towards her, he was holding a handful of seeds in his hands. "So you found it too, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess. Oh here, let me help you with those." She took some of the seed from him and placed them in front of the statue, in the same way he did. "Um, so what are these?"

"They're called Speciosus Victoria. They're a hybrid of the muggle rose flower and the magical Tener Tenera Tenerum."

"Really? Wow. What are they for?"

"Well they're actually for this memorial statue. I found out about it when Professor Sprout asked for my help with developing this hybrid flower just for this memorial statue."

"I haven't heard anything about this."

"Only the Professors know about it right now. There's going to be a surprise unveiling on the second anniversary of the Battle. It'll take about that long for the flowers to come into full bloom, so it's perfect timing. Do you want to help me plant them?"

"Um... Sure, why not?"

As Hermione assisted Neville with the flowers, she found out more about the statues from him. It was decided by all the professors that something needed to be made to commemorate the comradery and bravery of everyone who fought. The statue had first begun to be built in the beginning of September and is still unfinished.

"There is one thing, though. You have to keep this a secret. You can't tell anyone. It's supposed to be a big surprise and all." Neville smiled.

"I promise." Hermione smiled back, then looked at her watch. She had five minutes left to go to her next class. "Oh, I'm sorry Neville, but I've got to run." Neville looked a little bewildered, but nodded and waved goodbye.

When she got to her Transfiguration class, she was just on time. Hermione glanced around the room, and noticed Draco had turned up. '_Good,_' she thought, '_At least he's working on setting an example as Head Boy._'

Draco saw Hermione come to class just in time. '_What has she been doing? I thought she was in her room reading, as usual, for goodness sake._' Draco rolled his eyes. She tells him to set an example, yet she can't keep track of time herself.

Draco looked down and pulled the Girl in Blue's letter from his pocket. At this point in the year, he knew there was no need to look around to make sure no one was sneaking a peek, as everyone was sitting at least two seats away from him. He read it and reread it again. He'd never had anything secret like this before, he'd always had highly publicised 'girlfriends' in the school, but after the events of last year, he didn't want anything he did to be highly publicised anymore. Draco spent the rest of the day contemplating the situation.

He wasn't even sure if he wanted to meet her.

* * *

**From my research, as far as I can determine, and I've looked quite a bit, Speciosus Victoria means Beautiful Victory and Tener Tenera Tenerum means tender, delicate or soft.**


	9. Chapter 9

It was 11pm and Draco still hadn't decided if he wanted to go or not. He decided to head down to the Head's common room and get some advice from the two founder's portraits.

He dropped himself down onto a chair near them in the common room and looked up.

"Why do you look so glum, sonny boy?" Gryffindor said to him.

"I need to ask ye'r help on a decision… It's about a girl."

Gryffindor and Slytherin looked at each other.

"Well from my experience," Slytherin began, "Girls tend to know an awful lot about girls, so wouldn't you be better asking Miss Granger?"

Draco shook his head. For some reason he didn't really feel like sharing this with her.

Suddenly there was loud music coming from Hermione's room. It was muffled until she opened her door and poked her head out.

_I don't drink (no)  
Or swear (no)  
I don't rat my hair (eew)  
I get ill from one cigarette  
_

"The music's not disturbing you is it? It helps me concentrate sometimes."

_Keep your filthy paws  
Off my silky draws  
Would you pull that crap with Annette?_

Draco was a bit taken aback, but answered "No… no you're grand…"

Hermione smiled and went back into her room.

_As for you Troy Donahue,  
I know what you wanna do  
You got-_

"I have never in all my life as a portrait heard that sort of music before."

"It's probably Muggle music. She is a Muggleborn, after all. Ugh, I dunno about doing this. I'm feeling rather out of character today, for some reason. Maybe if the author had any idea how to keep a sense of character going." He hinted not so subtly. Suddenly he felt something wet drop on his head.

He looked up, but there was nothing there. "What the hell just happened?" He put his hand up to feel the mushy lumpy mess on his head.

"Bird shat on your head. It's generally not a good idea to insult the authors as they're writing the scene. Insult them when they're off writing a different scene." Draco quickly used a cleaning spell on his hair.

"Do you really want to know what I think about going to meet a girl, lad?" Slytherin said. Draco nodded, still kind of grossed out by what had just happened. "What's the worst that could come of it?"

Draco thought about this. It was very true, after all, what was the worst that could happen from going to meet this girl in the blue?

It was five past midnight by the time he spotted her a few feet away. It was a cold winters night and it was very dark.

"Lumos." He whispered.

She jumped, then smiled when she saw him. "Well," she said "Don't you look like The Phantom?"

Draco was confused. "What Phantom?"

She shook her head smiling. "The Phantom of the Opera. It's a Muggle opera. He wears a white mask just like that, and his hair is styled the very same." She took in his completely black slicked back hair. Draco hadn't had time to put the blonde over it tonight, but she didn't seem to need to ask. He sat down beside her. She was wearing the same mask as before, but today, she was wearing a white and black corset top and jeans. He hadn't known how formal or informal she'd wanted to be, so he'd decided, formal casual, but he still had his heavy cape with him. He pulled it around her again. The light from his wand shone upon her face and made it almost glow.

The two of them sat there in slightly awkward silence. Then she decided to break it. "I'm sorry, I'm not exactly the best at starting up conversations with new people. My lift here at Hogwarts has generally consisted of hanging out with the same people, year in, year out. I generally don't make a good first impression."

"I know what you mean. It's the same for me. Same people, same assumptions about me. It's quite annoying at times. But, what can you do? Only a year left."

She nodded.

They spent the next few hours talking and kissing and getting themselves into quite heated situations. They spoke about nothing and everything, and Draco was surprised to find they were very similar, but still different. He also realised as they separated and walked around different sides of the lake to go back to their sleeping quarters, he knew her well, but didn't know anything about her. He didn't know what house she was in, if she'd ever been a prefect, what her blood status was or who her friends were. But for some reason, he felt that none of those things really mattered too much. He felt a connection between the two of them.

As he quietly slipped back into the Heads common room, he could hear the music still blaring from Hermione's room, though all was silent from the other side of the door, so it wouldn't be heard in the school corridors.

He looked up at the two portraits, they were sleeping. As he ascended the stairs to his room, all the portraits were asleep too. Had they not ears? The music was ridiculously loud.

As he entered his bathroom that was joined onto his room, he took the dye out of his hair, and changed into his clothes for sleeping, which consisted of green pyjama pants and _nothing_ else.

Draco made his way across the hall to Hermione's room and banged on the door. There was no reply. He thudded on the door harder still. Nothing. Rolling his eyes, he opened the door to find Hermione sitting up on her bed and a huge thick book on top of her crossed legs.

_You're a bum_  
_ You're a punk_  
_ You're an old slut on junk_  
_ Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed_

She was only in a skimpy tank top and full length bottoms.

_You scumbag, you maggot_  
_ You cheap lousy faggot_  
_ Happy Christmas your arse_  
_ I pray God it's ou-_

Draco waved his wand at the weird contraption she had playing Muggle music and the music stopped, the silence was even more deafening. Amazingly, Hermione didn't seem to notice at all. She was too wrapped up in her book. After a minute or so, he brows furrowed and she looked up. She screamed, jumped back, put one hand up to her chest and the other grabbed her wand, shooting him with a very powerful stunning spell.

The red light was blinding, and when Draco got his vision back a few seconds later, he saw Hermione struggling to see things too. A second later she saw him clearly still standing in her doorway.

"Oh, it was you..." she said a bit sheepishly. "I'm sorry about that... Did you use a Sheild Cha- Hey! Wait a minute, what the hell are you doing in my room, scaring the living daylights out of me? Haven't you ever heard of knocking?"

"I did knock. Quite a bit. But you were either deafened by music or too taken up in your book to notice."

"So you just walk right in?" He saw her give his body a quick once over with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't know if you were in here or not. I just came in to ask you if you could please turn it off, I'd like some sleep."

"It's Saturday tomorrow, Malfoy, you don't need to be up early."

He shrugged and decided to change the subject, if only to be polite. "What are you reading?"

She held up the book. "Oh it's that book full of useless facts about Hogwarts and the grounds, isn't it?" He smirked.

"Yes... but useless facts can be interesting." She said defensively.

He nodded. "Yes, I know. I've already ready that one." He walked over to her bedside and flipped the pages until he got to the chapter he was looking for on 'The Lake.' As he looked down at the book, he realised he had a pretty handy view down her top. He moved away quickly, fighting down the smallest of blushes and averted his eyes. "That chapter is very good. It has a rumour in there that some students believe and have believed for a very long time that the Giant Squid is Gryffindor in Animagus form. Apparently he turns back into human form every night at 11, wanders the grounds for a bit and then returns before sunrise. Madness, right?"

Hermione was giggling. "I think we should go and investigate that claim sometime."

Draco smiled. "That's more of a Ravenclaw trait than one of a Gryffindor, Hermione." He saw her do a small double take at the sound of her first name, but she chose not to make a scene, which made Draco feel much better.

"Yeah well, the Sorting Hat was kind of 50-50 on me joining Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, in the end the decision was left up to me, and I picked the one I thought I'd be more suited to, but there were times when I'd wished I'd have chosen Ravenclaw."

"Me too." He smiled.

"You were a candidate for Ravenclaw?" Hermione asked surprised. Draco nodded.

"Yep. The Sorting Hat insisted I join Ravenclaw. But it could tell the worries I had. After all, it'd sorted thousands of Malfoys before, and it told me only a few dared to break the tradition and join a house other then Slytherin, of course that never went down well with the family. So I was prideful, went into Slytherin as I had been expected to, but the Sorting Hat told me, I'd end up regretting it. "

"Have you?"

Draco nodded. "But only a year left now,I'll be rid of everything soon enough."

"Everything?"

He nodded again. "Come now, Hermione, you can't honestly tell me you haven't noticed it by now. I'm thrown looks of distain and hatred every day. It's not easy having to put up with people judging you alliance and sanity when they only know what they've read or heard in rumours. It was all well and good for Potter to go through it a year or two ago, everyone knew he'd be proven right eventually, but what exactly am I supposed to do? Go to the teachers table in the great hall, flash my arm and show the scars when I had the Dark Mark removed? I don't think so."


	10. Chapter 10

"Scars?" Hermione looked concerned. Draco nodded and produced his left arm to her. A small gasp came from her mouth as she took his arm carefully in her soft hands. It was horrible. The wound had completely healed over and was healthy looking, but that didn't take away from the shock of it all. It was as if he had cut the skin from his inside forearm. The healed indentation had looked like Draco had done it himself in a fit of rage and shame. "Oh Draco..." she whispered sadly. His stomach did a little flip, but he ignored it. She looked up at him. He could see it in her eyes; she was burning with curiosity to know about it, but was too polite to ask.

He sighed. "If there's one thing I learned from Dumbledore and Potter, it's that Voldemort is prejudiced, evil and unrelenting, but illogical at times. It's impossible to remove the Dark Mark. I know you know that. No doubt you'd researched it. It's impossible to remove it with magic. You cannot simply erase it. You know as well as I do that Voldemort thought Muggles were vermin polluting the world. He never even considered that one of _his_ followers would lower themselves to that level. I cut the Mark from my arm, on a whim, hoping it would work, after trying for weeks to get the disgusting thing off of me. And it did work."

Hermione was silent for a few seconds. "Did... did it... um..."

"Hurt?" he asked. She nodded. "Well yeah it hurt, of course it hurt. I was in such a hurry to get the vile thing off of me, I didn't want to waste time getting painkillers or magical numbing cream or anything like that. It was gone within the hour, and even though it hurt like a bitch, I felt such an overwhelming sense of relief that it was gone."

Hermione smiled softly, running her fingers gently over the scars. Draco decided to take a look around her room. It was... interesting. It seems she hadn't been able to decide whether to keep it the royal blue colour or the scarlet red, which created this horrible clash of colours.

"It's an interesting colour scheme you've got going on here." He said to her with a cheeky grin.

"Hmmm? Oh! Um... well, I dunno, I really liked the two colours, but I couldn't decide which one to pick."

Draco thought for a bit. "What about a deep purple colour?" She looked at him, surprised. "Um... well I just thought, you know, red and blue mixed make purple... Nevermind, it was a silly idea."

"No, no! It's a really good idea, why didn't I think of it before?" She jumped up and started waving her wand. She turned the walls a beautiful violet colour, upholstered, all her furniture in the same colour, and changed any wooden furniture items and pure white colour. She stepped back to admire her work. "What do you think?" She smiled. "It makes the room look lighter and bigger, don't you think?"

"Um... sure?" He wasn't exactly an interior decorator. Hermione turned to smile at him. As she did this, she tripped, but while she was trying to right herself, she landed on her foot wrong. She was still standing just wincing lightly. "Hermione, are you okay?"

She nodded and smiled. "I just have weak ankles, if I land on my feet too hard, or I stand on them wrong, they go and I'll probably limping for a day or two. Ow."

"Hermione, your ankle is swelling pretty bad." Draco stood and helped her get back toward to bed. "Sit there and keep your leg up, I'll be back in a second." He left the room and went back downstairs into the Common Room. "I need a House Elf." He said quietly. There was a loud crack and a small squat elf with large brown eyes and a tomato like nose and big bat-like ears.

"Winky at your service, Master Malfoy." She said in her high pitched voice.

"Winky, I need a bag of ice, hot chocolate and some sweets or something. Hermione twisted her ankle upstairs." He said to her. She looked surprised and a little worried, but she cracked out and a few seconds later cracked back in carrying all he asked for on a tray. "Thank you, Winky."

"'Twas a pleasure, Sir. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, no, thanks."

Winky nodded. "Please wish Miss Granger well for me." And she cracked out.

When he got back to her room, he found her glaring at him. "You made a House Elf get those for you, didn't you?"

He sighed. "Yes, Hermione. It's what they like doing. I thought I told you to elevate your leg." He took her leg, sat it on his lap and put the ice on it. Hermione gasped. "That's cold!"

"That's because it's ice, Hermione." He said to her in a patronising voice. She laughed sarcastically and took one of the mugs of hot chocolate, she raised it to her lips. "Oh my god... I may not like the attitude toward the house elves, but my, my do they make some yummy hot chocolate."

Draco smiled at her. This was weird, they both knew it. But they'd grown used to each other, which he assumed was a good thing, it could've been a lot more awkward. All those hours together in the library in No. 12, the hours spent together because of the Head's duties, organising the Hallows Eve Masquerade and pretty much living together. It was a lot easier to get to know her than it probably should have been. As he kept the ice over her ankle, she looked at him curiously.

"So you're a Healer now, Draco?" She asked teasingly. "Results just behind mine, Quidditch player and now Healer. Is there anything you can't do?" She smiled.

He smirked cheekily at her. "You sure sound like your liking what you're seeing."

"There's a man in just pyjama bottoms, cradling my ankle and bringing me hot chocolate and sweets, what's not to like?"

Draco nodded. "Very true. But yeah, I dunno. I know quite a bit about the work Healers do. To tell you the truth, I've always been interested in this sort of thing. I've always wanted to be a Healer or a Mediwizard." He could see Hermione looked quite justly surprised. "Yeah, my dad had the same look on his face. But he seemed to like the idea. Healers and Mediwizards are highly respected among the wizarding community, it's a well paid job, and it'll always be interesting. I was happy he wasn't too opposed to it. Ever since Voldemort fell, he's relaxed his stranglehold on honour, and wanting me to get a Ministry job."

"Hmmm... that's interesting. I never thought of that for a career path. " She finished her hot chocolate and held Draco's out to him. "One minute," he said, and lifted the ice pack to examine her ankle again. The swelling was going down. "Looks like you'll survive." He said cheekily to her, he moved so he was sitting next to her on her bed. She handed him his mug. He took a sip. It tasted gorgeous, just as if they'd put bars of chocolate in the cup and melted them, pair that with the sugary cream and marshmallows, it was heaven in a cup. "Told you so." Hermione said, he opened his eyes to her and realised she'd watched his reaction. Her eyes fell from his down and she began giggling hysterically. He looked down. There was a wet patch where his groin was. He blushed ever so slightly, the condensation from the ice pack must have dripped onto him. How on earth had he not noticed? It was pretty damp and it lay over his crotch, revealing him in all his glory to Hermione. He quickly used a drying charm on it and turned to face her. "Sorry about that..."

"Don't worry. My fault. You were helping me, that's how it happened." She smiled at him again, which made the colour in his cheeks brighten. "You know, Draco, you look better with a bit of colour to your cheeks. Healthier." She teased.

Draco couldn't think of anything to say, so he just cleared his throat and faced her again. They stayed up for another few hours, talking about their future, their past and everything in between, all the while picking at the sweets and chocolates, occasionally filling up their mugs with water from Aguamenti.

It was approaching 9am before Draco shuffled down and lay his head on one of her pillows. He liked the comfort of her cotton sheets. It was a gentle break from his own rich silken ones. He opened one eye and found Hermione looking at him. He smirked and she turned her head away, blushing slightly. "Don't worry, Hermione. I'm only resting my eyes."

After a few minutes he could feel her lie down next to him, facing away. Her bushy hair tickled his face, but he barely noticed. Though he didn't want to, he felt himself drifting off to sleep, unable to fight it back any longer.

* * *

**Please review. Give me your feedback. I am determined to keep Draco and Hermione in character, but I want to know if you think I'm moving away from it too much. You are my beloved readers and I want your opinions. XD So pretty pretty please? **


	11. Chapter 11

'_Run, keep running and everything will be fine. Run faster! He's catching up. Why aren't I moving?_' she thought panicking. She stopped and looked around. There was an old rundown shack in front of her. She ran to it and hid inside.

"Oh good, Hermione, you're here." She looked up. Harry, all the Weasleys, her family and even Draco were all standing in the well lit room together smiling down at her. There was a Christmas tree behind them. They were decorating it together. She was safe. Harry helped her up and handed her a green bauble. As she held it up to put it on the tree, she saw his reflection in it, as she dropped it in shock, she felt his cold clammy hand around her neck. She saw his other arm raised, his long white fingers holding a wand that he pointed at all her friends and family. She tried to scream out to them, but she had no voice. There was a flash of green light. It was an old shack again. The tree was rotted and crumbling. All the decorations had fallen and smashed on the floor. She looked around. All of them, everyone was dead. She fell to her knees next to them. They were so cold. She picked up her cracked green bauble and it shattered beneath her fingers.

Hermione sat bold upright in bed, hyperventilating, tears streaming down her face. As she got her breathing under control, she wasn't able to control her tears. She had to cover her mouth, it was so horrible. There was a huge dry lump in her throat that hindered her breathing and made her tears flow harder. A hand touched her back. "Hermione?"

She jumped and screamed, looking for her wand. She felt her wrists being grabbed and held fast. "Hermione, you're awake. Listen to me. I won't hurt you." She was still desperately trying to get her wrists free, but it was no use. "Calm down, Hermione." He said in a soothing voice.

Reality hit her there, she was awake, Voldemort was dead, and he couldn't hurt her or her friends anymore. She looked up slowly as saw Draco looking at her with concern. The tears continued to flow down her face and the lump in her throat was starting to her.

"D-Draco… You're-you're in my b-bed…" she said, as she realized where she was. His face didn't betray anything. He let her wrists go and continued to watch her.

"D-Draco…" she began again, still shaking from the shock of what she'd seen, and gulping down air, making the lump dryer, "Can you p-please do me a favor?"

"Anything." He said as he placed his hand on her back again. She looked up at him. "Can you please gi-give me a hug?"

The surprise was obvious in his face. She really needed one, she was almost hysterical, still reeling from seeing her friends happy, and then emotionless, lifeless and gone. Another wave of utter terror and sadness came over her and she began to hyperventilate again. She jumped when she felt Draco pull her into a hug, but it was more of a comfort to her than she ever thought it would be. He rocked her back and forth, stroked her hair, said things to her like "it was just a dream, it's all over, and you'll be okay." After a few minutes her breathing became even and her tears had slowed down. She felt safe. Her eyes were tired.

"Are you okay?" he asked. She only nodded, half asleep. She could feel herself being lowered back onto the bed and a coldness as his body heat left her. She moaned in annoyance and felt around behind her for his hand. "You want me to stay?"

She nodded.

"Are you sure?"

"Just lie down and sleep, would you?" She said muffled. Draco obeyed, still quite sleepy himself. They'd only slept for about two hours.

* * *

Hermione opened her eyes. She was very groggy and warm and really didn't feel like moving. She moved her arm up out of the quilt and looked at the time.

"Holy shit!" She sat up straight and Draco's arm fell from around her waist. She heard him groan and she assumed it'd cause him to wake up.

"Hermione what are you doing? Go back to sleep."

"It's five in the evening, Draco! We have to get u-" She was silenced by a hand taking her shoulder and pulling her back to bed. She blushed red as she realized how close they were. "Draco, do you have any idea what you're doing?"

He inhaled. "Mmm-mmm. Shhhh. Sleepy time now." He buried his face back into her pillows and fell asleep again. She rolled her eyes. A Malfoy or not, Draco was just like every other male when it came to getting out of bed.

* * *

Draco opened his eyes and looked around him. Oh yeah, he was in Hermione's room. He turned around to see if she was still there. She was sitting up, reading one of her books with a weird looking thing over her ears. "Hermione?" She didn't hear him.

He poked her in the side. That made her jump, which, in turn, made him smirk. She took the things out of her ears and Draco could hear music coming from them. "Good evening." She said, "You need to start waking up, we have patrols in an hour."

Draco nodded sleepily. "Hermione, what's that?" He pointed at what she'd had in her hears.

"A Magical Muggle MP3. It's a part of a range of a load of stuff created for Muggleborns and Halfbloods to deal with the homesickness and stuff that comes with entering a whole new world."

"…Uh huh." That was quite possibly the weirdest thing he'd ever heard, but he wouldn't tell Hermione that. "Okay, I think it's time for me to have a shower. I'll meet you down in the common room in a half an hour or so?"

"It takes you that long to have a shower?" she teased.

"No. I just need to get myself ready and all that."

"Yeah, right." She smiled. He smiled back as he left her room. When he was safely within the walls of his own room, he leaned against his door and ran his fingers through his hair. 'What the hell just happened?' he thought.

* * *

Forty minutes later, they proceeded out of the oak doors and began to do their rounds, they were both very prudent on punctuality and they figured that starting twenty minutes early couldn't hurt anyone. As they got to the end of the corridor, they stopped and looked at each other.

"I suppose I'll go this way, then?" Hermione said. Draco nodded. "Do you want to perform the spell, or shall I?" she said to him.

"I'll do it." He put his wand in the palm of his left hand and muttered the incantation for a spell that connected all the prefects, the head boy and the head girl to each other. It was a spell that connected with all of them while they were on their rounds, so if any one of them encountered something particularly dangerous, the rest would be warned about it and the others wands would point in the direction of the particular person in need. It was hardly ever used, as the most that was usually encountered was a sneaky student out of bed.

A gust of wind lightly ruffled Hermione and Draco's hair, indicating the spell had worked. He put his wand back in his pocket and said "Okay, so, see you back here when rounds are over." And he walked down an adjoining corridor. He could hear Hermione go down the opposite corridor and by now they were both out of sight and earshot of each other.

They were empty as to be expected, save for one or two ghosts, placidly floating along. It was coming up to 11.30 and nothing of interest had happened yet. He turned the corner at the library and found quite a sight in front of him. Three girls on one side, Ginny Weasley on the other. The three girls, two Ravenclaw and one Slytherin had their wands pointed at Ginny; she had her wand at all three of them. The three seemed poised to attack, they looked positively feral. As he saw the three of them raise their wands, there was a glimmer of panic in Ginny's eyes, but she diminished it quickly, ready to shield and defend. Draco ran forward his own wand raised, the girl's curses left their mouths a fraction of a second before Ginny and Draco's _Protego_ left theirs. Ginny's shield was just up in time, but it was not strong enough to ward off three curses. Draco's shield charm landed a second later, which also helped to block two of the spells, but unfortunately one had passed before his shield had landed and hit Ginny squarely in the chest. She was blown back and fell to the floor in an unmoving crumpled heap. Draco came to stop behind the three girls who seemed to be quite happy with what they'd done. But one looked confused.

"Where did the second shield charm come from?" she asked.

"That would've been me." Draco said menacingly. The girls whipped around and turned pale. Draco raised his wand to them. "If you three even think of moving, I'll hex you into next week."

They didn't look like they could've, even if they wanted to. Draco put his wand in the palm of his right hand and said to it. "Head Girl, two nearest prefects." The slightest gust of wind passed his face, indicating it had been done. He raised his wand to the three girls who were still frozen to the spot as he moved to check on Ginny. "You three will stay there. No talking. No moving. No communicating of any kind." No sooner had he said this than Hermione burst through a nearby tapestry and ran towards them.

"What's happened? Is everyone okay?" She said breathlessly, running toward them. As she ran, her eyes fell on the unconscious form of Ginny and she ran faster. "What happened to her?" she said panicked as she knelt next to Ginny and Draco.

"These three." Draco motioned to the three girls just as Anthony Goldstein and Hannah Abbott rounded a near corner, running. "You two," Draco said, as they got nearer, "Take Miss Weasley to the Hospital Wing, these three cowards cornered and attacked her. I'm not sure what they hit her with, exactly, but we'll leave that to Madame Pomfrey." He conjured up a stretcher and gently levitated her onto it. "The stretcher will follow you to the Hospital Wing. Hermione and I will finish dealing with these three." Hannah and Anthony rushed off, looking bewildered and concerned. Draco and Hermione turned to the three girls. If looks could kill, they would be long dead, Hermione's glare was overflowing with rage. Draco was almost sure he saw her eyes flash red. "What did you use on her?" She said quietly. The girls didn't make a peep. They were staring at her, terrified. They knew well who she was, the best witch in the school and Head Girl. "I asked you three a question." She said with a growl that sounded like a lioness protecting her young.

One of the Ravenclaw girls opened and closed her mouth trying to speak, but nothing came out other than a squeak. Hermione turned to Draco. "Did you see it?"

He nodded. "It was sort of a grassy green colour. It looked like a mixture between light and mist. It had the characteristics of dry ice."

"Ah, that." She turned back to the three girls. "How fitting. I suppose it was the Slytherin girl who'd heard of it?"

The three of them nodded, looking even more scared she knew what it was. "Come on then girls. Why don't we go see Professor Flitwick and Professor Slughorn?" Hermione spoke in a dangerously lighthearted voice. It was truly terrifying. Draco had never seen Hermione like this before. He began to count himself lucky he had never gotten her this angry before in the past few years.

She began to walk down the corridor, Draco following suit, the three girls walking shakily behind them, their faces the colour of parchment. They got to the door, and Hermione knocked.

"Come in, please." Said a high pitched voice. Hermione turned to Draco and the girls. "You three stay out here, Draco, I trust you won't let them get away." Hermione turned and entered Flitwick's classroom. There was muttering inside and then dead silence. The door opened and Hermione and Flitwick came out. "I've told the Professor what has happened and he had agreed with me that he and Professor Slughorn should decide on the punishment together. We are going to the dungeons to see him now." She said, her voice laced with malice. It wasn't a long journey, Flitwick's office was on the Seventh Floor and Slughorns was on the Sixth. Hermione knocked on Slughorns door. Draco felt slightly peeved she was taking control of everything, but he wasn't stupid enough to step into the lion's den.

Slughorn opened the door. "My, Miss Granger, whatever are you doing about at this hour?" he noticed Draco, the girls and Flitwick behind her. "Has something happened?"

"May we come in sir?"

"What? Oh yes, yes, of course, excuse me." He smiled awkwardly as everyone made their way into his large office. "What has happened, Filius?" He asked Flitwick.

Flitwick sighed. "I think it would be best if, Miss Granger explained it to you, as she did to me, Horace."

Slughorn looked at Hermione expectantly.

"Professor, I've asked yourself and Professor Flitwick to come together and decide on the punishment for these three." She motioned to the girls who's heads hung low. "The three of them used the Invidia Curse at the same time against one, Ginny Weasley. She was able to shield herself enough to reduce the effects, and Draco managed to produce his own shield to protect her more, but she was still hit full force with one of the curses and is in the Hospital Wing. Hannah Abbott and Anthony Goldstein brought her up."

"Good Lord…" Slughorn spoke aghast. "Where would you girls hear of such a curse?" They remained quiet.

"Professors, we really must go and tell Headmistress McGonagall about this." Hermione said to the two Heads of House. They nodded absently and Slughorn dismissed them.

As they walked, Hermione seemed very calm, but her eyes said differently. They still seemed to flash red with fury. "Hermione?" he asked carefully.

"Yes, Draco?" her voice betrayed nothing.

"What… um… what is the Invidia Curse?"

She stopped in her tracks. Turning to look at him very slowly, she enquired "You don't know? You're just as learnèd as me in Magic, Draco, you've probably heard of it before. The Invidia Curse is a curse of jealousy. There are curses named after all the Seven Deadly Sins and Invidia is one of them. Ginny has been going through hell since the start of school. She is the Chosen One's girlfriend. She doesn't open any mail anymore unless it comes from her family owl. She receives Howlers daily about how she is not worthy of him, everyone has gotten used to it. You haven't been to the Great Hall lately to eat, so I wouldn't expect you to know, but it is disgusting, and unfair. Every Howler she gets now, she sets on fire before it has a chance to explode." With every word, her eyes became narrower and her voice darker. Draco regretted asking the question and opening the floodgates. "Those girls were some of the group who are trying their very hardest to get her out of the equation, so they can try to have Harry. She couldn't even go to the Masquerade Ball as herself. She had to dye her hair and everything. Her stark red hair would have been way too noticeable." Hermione was almost crying with rage now. Draco put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and blinked away the tears. She shook her head vigorously, as if trying to rid herself of the things she was feeling.

"Well," Draco said, "Think of it this way, it's better you got all that out now. It probably wouldn't have been too impressive to McGonagall." She smiled and nodded. They proceeded to walk up to the stone gargoyle and stand before it. "Password?" it asked. Draco looked at Hermione, he didn't know it. "Salem." She said. They gargoyle moved aside and let them climb the stairs to the Heads office. "Salem?" Draco asked.

"Salem witch trials, and it was the name of her first cat." She answered. Hermione used the Griffin door knocker and knocked three times.

"Enter." Came the Headmistress' voice. Hermione opened the door and Draco followed her in. "Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy, it is extremely late, what are you two doing out of bed after your patrolling?"

"Professor…" Hermione started, but Draco could see she was beginning to become lost for words, as the gravity of what happened to Ginny began to hit her.

"Professor," Draco tool up, "I came upon an incident in the last half hour of my patrols. Two Ravenclaw girls and one Slytherin girl had cursed Ginny Weasley with the Invidia Curse at the same time. She was able to shield herself and I assisted with another shield, but one of the girls' curses slipped past the both of them and hit her, head on."

"Has she been brought to the Hospital Wing?"

"Yes."

"Have the girls been brought to their appropriate Head of House?"

"Yes."

"Who took her to the Hospital Wing?"

"Hannah Abbott and Anthony Goldstein."

"Has anyone else been informed?"

"No, Professor."

She sighed. "Very well. I will send a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and inform them. Miss Granger, I would appreciate it if you could inform Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter of the situation. Knowing you three, if I told you not to go see her until tomorrow, you'd do it anyway. You may spend the night with her if you wish." Hermione nodded.

"You two are dismissed."

Hermione and Draco left her office and went their separate ways, Hermione to Gryffindor tower, and Draco to His Head Boy dormitory. As he flopped into bed, he looked at his watch. It was half past midnight. He kicked off his shoes, stripped to his boxers and curled into his bed, welcoming sleep.

* * *

**Invidia: Jealousy/envy**


	12. Chapter 12

_Tap, tap, tap._

That annoying sound was making its way into his dreams. He was half way between sleep and waking, still dreaming but with a sense of reality.

_Tap, tap, tap._

Draco pulled the pillows over his head, trying to drown it out. But the noise was getting more insistent and angrier. With every tap his memory of the dream slipped further and further away. He opened his eyes and looked out of the window. It was raining heavily, but that wasn't what was tapping on the window. Her owl was there, glaring at him, soaking wet and looking very put out. Draco got up and opened the window. The owl flew in and dropped the soaking letter onto his bed. It landed on the floor in front of the lit fire, trying to warm itself up. It glared at Draco again, as if daring him to tell it to leave.

"Take your time," he said to the owl as he closed the window. It was freezing outside. He preformed a drying spell on the letter and opened it.

_To Sir Green,_

_It's been quite some time since we first met, and I must admit, it's been frustrating me, not being able to figure out who you are. I am quite a stubborn person, as you may have come to realize. I don't usually accept that I cannot find an answer to something, and am determined to keep on with my own findings before admitting defeat. But as a great man once said; "It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment."_

_I want to know who you are. I've found myself looking at every student I pass, going through them with a fine toothed comb, trying to match their mannerisms and such with yours. But I've hit a dead end. My need to know will probably end up being my own undoing, but that is what defines a Ravenclaw after all. And if I am not mistaken, you have the same thirst for knowledge and the same want to know who I am too. Hopefully you will not be too shocked._

_How about we meet in the Room of Requirement at midnight? I will come in my mask, and I will show myself to you, if you should wish it. I will only ask you to reveal yourself if you want to too._

_Love,_

_Lady Blue._

'_Ah crap._' Draco thought. Most of the school hated him. How was this ever going to work out properly? Damn it. He began to pace. He lit up, inhaled and puffed out so many different colours of smoke, it'd put the rainbow to shame. His emotions were conflicting and he had no idea what to do. After a half hour of pacing, he decided; '_damn it all to hell,_' and wrote back a single worded reply; "Agreed."

He handed it to the owl, which looked quite cozy, and didn't look too fond of going back out in the rain.

Draco sighed. "Wait until the rain stops so, if you must."

The owl turned back to the fire and relaxed itself again.

Draco spent the rest of the day in a daze. He thought about it over and over again. He liked this girl, he really did. But did he want her to know who he was? The infamous Draco Malfoy. He shook his head, trying to pay attention to the lesson ahead of him. But soon he found his thoughts drifting back to her and succumbed to thinking of nothing but the problem in front of him.

Draco was waiting by the lake for her to turn up, he'd come early to muddle things over in his mind. What if it was someone who hated him? The betrayer of both good and evil. Or someone embarrassing. They'd gone pretty far. Not as far as sex, but far enough. Oh god, if it turned out to be someone who despised him-

"Penny for your thoughts?" came voice to his right. He looked up. She was here. Oh well, no time like the present.

"I was just thinking," he said to her as she sat down. "I have to admit I am a bit nervous about showing you… me."

She smiled at him. "Yeah, me too. So… who wants to go first?"

Draco mustered up all of his courage. He was a Malfoy after all. If he could not even have the courage to show his face to a girl, he was a shame to the family name and his father.

"I'll do it, I guess." He slowly pulled his wand out, tapped his head, so his hair returned to normal colour. The girls eyes went wide when she saw it and her face went pale under the mask. She knew already, and she didn't seem to like it. He pulled his mask off and flashed her a charming smile. In spite of her pale face, she blushed at his smile.

"Surprise." He said. She stumbled to her feet. He followed suit.

"Draco Malfoy…" she said breathlessly. She started to back away.

"You're not getting away that easy, this was your idea. You may hate me, but I at least deserve to know who you are."

She backed away still. "No… no, this was a mistake, it'd be better if you didn't know…" She turned and began to run.

'Shit.' Draco thought as he ran after her. He drew his wand and caught up enough to touch the tip of his wand to her straight hair. It immediately bounced to life, in long neat chocolate curls flowing down her back. He reached out and caught her wrist. He stopped her running and pulled her fast to him.

"Be fair." He said to her.

"You're not going to like it."

"It's not fair you get to know who we both are. I want to see you."

She looked down. "Fine…"

He reached up and pulled her mask off. It fell to the grass with a thud. Her wrist was dropped and Draco backed away.

"Told you you wouldn't like it." Hermione said.

* * *

**I could be a heartless bitch and leave it there, (assuming you see that as a cliffhanger) but I'll be nice. XD**


	13. Chapter 13

'This is a shit situation…' Draco thought. He was lying on his bed, a discarded book about time travel he found on the shelf in the common room by a wizard author he'd never heard of. H. G. Wells was lying on his bed, half read. He realized he'd read half a chapter without taking anything in. It had been two weeks since he discovered Hermione as Lady Blue and they hadn't spoken once when it wasn't out of necessity.

He looked at his watch. 7.23 a.m. The sun was half risen, giving a fresh crisp light against the snow littering the ground. It was Christmas break and Christmas was only a few days away. Draco had been trying to sleep for hours, but Hermione was plaguing his mind, as she had been since that night. He sighed and got up to go outside.

The freezing cold air hit his face like knives. He pulled his winter cloak around him to shield him from the cold. As he came closer to the lake he could see someone out skating on the frozen Lake. As he looked closer, he saw that it was Hermione. He was about to turn to get out of her line of sight, when he noticed she seemed very distracted. She was skating absently, not paying attention to where she was going and she was out quite far.

He shook his head turning away again. He'd only walked a few paces when there was a thunderous crack of the ice from the Lake. He turned. Hermione was gone and there was an opening in the ice where she had been. Draco's heart stopped for a second then started double speed. He ran toward the lake, when on it, transfiguring his shoes to ice skates. He moved across the ice as fast as he could, terrible thoughts going through his mind. It was damn hard to swim in clothes, not to mention the temperature of the lake and the weight her winter clothes would have on her when wet. He skidded to a stop next to the hole. He looked down. He couldn't see anything.

"Lumos." He said shakily and plunged his wand into the water. His hand had gone numb as soon as it had entered. Nothing. There was no sign of her.

Then suddenly something began to rush toward the hole. Draco backed away, as two huge tentacles shot through the ice, and entwined in them was an unconscious Hermione. The Giant Squid gently placed Hermione in Draco's arms. She was colder than any person should ever be. He immediately conjured up a stretcher, placed her on it and rushed her toward the Hospital Wing. as the tentacles receded back into the Lake, with one or two lacerations that looked like they'd been done by Hermione's skates as she tried to kick for the surface. Madame Pomfrey was what she needed, Draco had no idea how to treat hypothermia and shock.

He burst through the doors and yelled for Madame Pomfrey. She came bustling out of her office.

"My god Mr. Malfoy, what happened?"

"I don't know, she was out skating and must've fallen through some thin ice."

"How long was she in there?" She said, her professionalism coming in.

"Um… not more than two minutes. The Giant Squid brought her back to the surface."

"Okay first thing's first," Madame Pomfrey said as she started to strip Hermione out of her wet clothes. In a flash she had her in a clean dry hospital gown. "Take off your shirt Mr. Malfoy."

"Excuse me?"

"I said take it off. You need to warm her with your body heat, while I go and make a potion for this situation. It shouldn't take me more than ten minutes. This will give her extra time."

"… You're kidding, right?"

"Do I _look_ like I'm kidding?" she stared at him sternly. Draco was silent as he complied.

"Right, now lie next to her, warm her chest, neck and head, I need to wrap you two in this blanket to keep the heat from escaping."

Draco just stood, staring at her in disbelief.

"MR. MALFOY THIS IS VERY SERIOUS!"

Draco jumped and did as she asked. As he put his arms around her and pulled her torso to his. She was absolutely freezing. As they were wrapped in the blanket, he began to shiver beneath her temperature. Her lips were blue. It was disturbing how peaceful she looked. She was unnaturally still and it scared him. His only comfort was her light breath against his neck and her faint heartbeat. As the time passed, he could feel her warm up slightly. Madame Pomfrey came back in just as Draco noticed she was starting to get the colour back into her cheeks.

"You'll need to stay there for a few more minutes, Mr. Malfoy." She said, as she pulled back the sheets slightly and tipped the pumpkin coloured liquid down Hermione's throat. "Okay, now stay there until her temperature rises, which shouldn't take more than a minute or two. Oh don't worry, she won't wake up," she said as she noticed Draco's slightly worried expression. "No, she'll stay asleep for a few more house, which should give you time to get that blush under control." She teased as she walked off.

Draco felt his cheeks go redder and in spite of himself, held her tighter. Something rather terrifying was happening to him. He was feeling _upset_ at the thought that she might have died. He tried to reason with himself; of course he'd feel sad, she'd practically been his only… friend… since before school term. But it wasn't just that…

Draco shook it from his mind as Madame Pomfrey came back and told him he could go. He didn't want to leave Hermione's side, but he knew she'd be well taken care of under Madame Pomfreys gaze.

Draco woke up the next day while the sun was low in the sky. 'Must be evening.' He thought. As he got up and got dressed he thought Hermione must've been awake by now and decided to visit her.

When he arrived, Hermione was sitting up in bed, with Ron and Harry were at either side of her. The three of them looked up as he entered. Draco groaned, he didn't want to have to deal with the two of them right now. But to his surprise they both gave him a stiff nod as he approached.

He suspected Hermione had told them to lay off of him for a bit. He sat awkwardly at the foot of her bed not really knowing what to say.

"Hello Draco," Hermione smiled shyly at him. "Um… I guess I should thank you for saving me yesterday."

"No, not really, it was more the Giant Squid than anything. It brought you above the surface, though I think your skates may have cut it a little bit."

Hermione looked worried, and was about to say something before Ron interjected with. "What were you doing out there anyway, Malfoy? Following her?"

"Ron!"

"What exactly are you suggesting, Weasley? I was out for a walk. A bit of exercise, something you don't look like you enjoy too much of." Ron's ears were turning red.

"Lads, cool it." Harry said, a little calmer than Ron. Draco smirked, the Malfoy Smirk at Ron, which made his ears turn redder. Draco stood.

"Good to see you're well Hermione. Don't get so overprotective, Weasley. She's not your wife yet."

As Draco walked out, he could hear Ron spluttering in the background and Hermione saying "Now why did you have to go and do that, Ron."


	14. Chapter 14

**Writers block is a bitch.**

* * *

Hermione turned over in her bed. It was Christmas morning, she'd had a clear bill of health just in time, but couldn't sleep all night. And it wasn't because of the usual pre-Christmas excitement that people of all ages have, it was because of Draco. She'd barely been back two hours, before they came across each other. She'd never ever experienced a more awkward meet with anyone. She had been passing through the common room, when Draco came out of his room, he'd almost gotten to the bottom of the stairs before he noticed her. His eyes met hers and he froze in place. He looked like he'd wanted to say something, but was holding himself back. He then turned on his heel and swept back up the stairs.

Stupid Draco, making her feel awkward. What was there to be embarrassed about? They'd hated each other for years, then they had begun to get close as themselves. But then Hermione thought back on the intimate moments they'd shared while under masks, and she blushed furiously. Oh yeah, there's that. He'd seen her… bits. He even commented on the little mole she had to the right of her right breast. Hermione blushed even more, she felt like her face was glowing red. There was also the whole saving her life thing.

'_Stupid Draco making me feel awkward._' She thought. '_Dear Merlin, listen to me, I sound like a petty teenage girl. Compose yourself Hermione._'

Hermione turned over again. She could see the bag of presents at the foot of her bed, but they didn't really hold her interest at the moment. She sighed, frustrated. There was no way she was getting any sleep so she got up and got dressed, still unsure of what to do with her time.

As she descended the stairs, she heard her name being called, her heart leapt for a moment, thinking it to be Draco. As it turned out, it was just the teenage Dumbledore in portrait form.

"What is it, Albus?" She asked, curiously.

He smiled cheekily. "You passed the mistletoe, with not even a second glance."

"Mistletoe?" She looked up and around her. There was no mistletoe in sight. "There's no mistletoe."

"Yes there is!" He pointed to the ceiling in his portrait. Sure enough, there was a small sprig of the green and white plant there. "It's still technically above you, now isn't it?" He smirked.

She raised her eyebrow at him. "Are you sure you're the same Dumbledore?"

"Almost. Do I become a bit of a stuffed shirt?"

"Well no, not exactly, you still have a bit of cheek to you."

"Good! Good. Now, give me a kiss. But just on the cheek, I don't want people getting the wrong idea about me." He smiled.

Hermione was still a little unsure. "But Albus, you're a portrait…"

"Oh come on, you're worse than half the teachers here."

Hermione scowled. She'd always resented being compared to the teachers. "Okay fine, but just a little peck on the cheek."

Albus turned his cheek out and she lightly kissed it. "Lovely, thank you." He smiled teasingly.

"Well Albus, turning the other cheek, are we?" The portrait to his right said to him.

"Always with the really bad puns, Gael?" Albus replied. Gael stuck out his tongue at him.

"Okay… I'll leave you two to it." Hermione bade goodbye to the two of them and decided to make her way to the Gryffindor common room. On her way through the hallways, she ran into Luna.

"Oh, hello, Hermione." She greeted. "You're up rather early."

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep. Hey Luna, have you ever heard of a portrait asking for a kiss from someone under mistletoe?"

"Oh yes. It happens quite often, but it's generally the more outgoing portraits who ask. I suppose the others are afraid of the Nargles."

"Oh yes… them."

"You were asked for a kiss?"

"Um, yeah. There's a portrait of Dumbledore as a teenager in the Head's common room."

"I would've thought he'd have asked Draco, although he is a tough man to figure out. I suppose that is what you get when you're known as one of the wisest people of the age."

"Yeah. Sure. What are you doing up so early anyway?"

"Oh, I'm always up this early on Christmas. You know that father writes that an old wizard ages ago in the school, was full of sorrow because he's lost his wife, so he cast a spell to make her ghost visible, but instead what he did was put a spell on all the ghosts in the castle by accident, so that at a particular hour on Christmas morning, they become solid. I haven't been able to find out which hour that is yet, though. I think it's because the ghosts hide when they become solid."

"Oh right. Well, good luck with that. I'm going to head up to the Gryffindor common room, to see Harry and Ron." Hermione said quickly, hoping to not get caught up in searching for solid ghosts. Luna waved goodbye and floated off down the corridor in her usual dreamy state.

Hermione continued onto the common room, but even though she did have to admit, there did seem to be a unusual shortage of ghosts. She hadn't passed one yet on her journey, which was odd. She out it out of her mind as she entered the common room, and sat by the dying fire. She contemplated her problem with Draco, it had done nothing but plague her mind since she woke up after her fall into the lake. She knew well how to deal with someone with hypothermia, it wasn't the first time she'd come across it, when she was seven, she was out with her parents, her aunt and her older cousin, Tessa. Tessa had managed to slip and fall into the freezing river they were strolling along the banks of, and she'd seen how it worked. Get the person out of the wet clothes, put them in warm dry ones and gradually heat them up with body heat etc. She blushed when she imagined how Draco had handled it.

She spent the next few hours lost in thought before she was snapped out of it by Harry.

The rest of the day involved jolly celebrations, over-eating, Harry getting killed in Wizard chess by Ron and many a snowball fight. Draco didn't enter her mind once, during all the merriment. But as the day came to an end, she knew she'd have to face him again for her Head Girl patrol duties. Amazingly, he'd managed to avoid it, as she left the Gryffindor common room, she felt the gust of wind, that showed that Draco had cast the spell and the duties had started. Throughout patrolling the corridors, she didn't come past him once, although she really oughtn't have been surprised by it, '_it is a very big castle after all._'

When patrols were over, she was In the Astronomy Tower, trying to politely ask the Bloody Baron to keep his groaning and clanking to a minimum, but having very little effect.

It took her almost twenty minutes to get back to the Head's common room. As she entered, she sat down on one of the chairs, happy to be off of her feet. Her eyes were feeling heavy, but she shook her head, determined not to fall asleep on the couch and wake up with a sore back and neck.

Dragging her feet as she ascended the stairs, her head was bowed, practically sleepwalking. All of a sudden she walked into something rather solid, hitting her head. "Ow…" she muttered, she looked up. She'd veered off very slightly, and hit one of the stone walls. "How could I have missed that…" she muttered again.

"You're a graceful woman, Hermione." Albus shouted, rather drunk, with one of the past Head Girls on his arm. "Oh, oh, oh, oh, Hermione, have you met…" He looked at the girl on his arm, who was also quite drunk. "Wha's your name?"

The previous Head Girl seemed to be having trouble remembering her own name. She was far far more intoxicated than Albus.

"Oh yeah, Hermione, have you met Enid?" He pointed to her. "She's my best friend. Ooooh, but no kissing, no…"

Hermione nodded, and was about to continue up the stairs again, but as she looked up, she realized standing right before her was Draco.

"Draco! M'boy!" Albus threw his arms out, spilling his firewhisky everywhere, amazingly, missing Enid, not that she would have noticed. Draco raised his eyebrow at Albus. Albus, however was looking at Draco, as if trying to figure something out. Then his eyes went wide and started pointing madly and the roof then Hermione, then the roof then Draco. He looked as if he was trying to say something, but it was just on the tip of his tongue.

"This is why I don't drink," Gale said next to them. "It turns the smartest people into blithering idiots. Even someone with the intelligence level of Albus. Though it does always seem to be the smartest ones who are the most shameless."

Albus' attention was turned to Gale, and he swayed and pointed at him "I'll get you yet…" he muttered.

Suddenly he clapped his hands together. "That's it!" Enid jumped, but soon went back to her firewhisky.

"Th-The mist-tletoe! You two!" He pointed at Hermione and Draco. "Kiss! Now. It's the rules, you're under the mistlething. You have to kiss!"

Hermione just stood, not daring to look at Draco.

"Oh come on! You're acting silly! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

"He's not going to stop until you do." Gale said, "He'll follow ye into a portrait in your rooms if he has to."

"C'mon! I know ye want to. Just do it! Oh, you know what, it's okay, I promise I won't look." He turned away. After an agonizing few seconds of terrible silence, he said "I don't hear kissing!"

Hermione's face was going redder by the second, all ounce of tiredness gone, her heart was beating double time, and adrenaline was coursing through her from nervousness.

"Kiss for Merlins sake, we're not getting any younger! I can do this all night!"

"Oh for gods sake," Hermione heard from behind her, next thing she knew, Draco had pulled her towards him and pressed his lips to hers. Her heart stopped for a second and her eyes went wide, then picked up twice as fast and she closed her eyes.

"Yay!" Albus shouted waving his arms. "Cheers!" he said and downed a glass of firewhisky.

"Okay… you can stop now…" he said. They didn't pay any attention.

"Hey! Hey! Enough! Guys? Hello? Cut it out, it's gross!"

"You brought it upon yourself, Albus." Gale said to him.

"Yeah, I know, but… " Albus pulled his wand out of his pocket and set off a red and gold firework inside his portrait with a loud bang.

Hermione and Draco pulled apart with a start.

"I just wanted a kiss out of ye, Merlin, not a bloody snog. If you're gonna do that again, get a room."

Hermione and Draco looked at each other. Draco shrugged. "Okay." He took Hermione's hand and pulled her into his room.

"Oh my god, ew!" Albus shouted after them. "I'm gonna need a lot more firewhisky to block this out…"


	15. Chapter 15

Draco opened his eyes a little, sleep clouding them, still hardly able to keep them open. As he yawned, he could smell the foulness of his morning breath. As he turned to get up, he found Hermione still asleep next to him in his bed, her head turned away from him, lying on her back. He wriggled his way out of the bed gently, so he wouldn't wake her and made his way to the bathroom to quickly gargle some mouthwash.

It was freezing in his room, the fire had gone out a long while ago, and he could feel the goosebumps rising on his skin. Returning from the bathroom, he took his wand from the bedside table, waved it and got the fire burning again. He glanced back to the bed to see if he'd disturbed her, she turned over, her back facing his side of the bed. Got back into his bed, quickly and curled up into a ball to keep himself warm. Soon enough he felt himself drift back to sleep.

When he awoke again, Hermione wasn't in the bed. He turned over and looked around, she wasn't in the room. He felt a little bit hurt and annoyed that she'd leave, but brushed it away. But then the bathroom door opened and Hermione emerged in her mismatched underwear. A black and blue bra and green panties.

"Oh... you're awake." she said as she blushed a little.

Draco nodded. "I am indeed." he said awkwardly. The atmosphere was unbearable, Draco was lying naked in the bed, and Hermione was standing before him, in just her underwear, gingerly trying to gover herself with her arms. "It's nothing I haven't seen before, Hermione." He said cheekily, trying to break the tension. Hermione blushed even more.

"Yeah well..." she tried to defend, but couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Come back into the bed, Hermione, it's cold." She hesitated for a second, but then complied. They were silent for a few minutes, but then she pipped up, "So, what now?"

"Well we could always go again, if you're the eager." He smirked. She smacked his arm.

"That's not what I meant." But she smiled.

"I know, I know. I'm not sure. I dunno about you, but I think if this gets out, there'll be a bit of uproar. You know, a big bad Slytherin man and the good girl from Gryffindor, sounds like it could easily be turned around." Hermione nodded.

"Well..." she paused "I kinda... don't mind... if it goes on from here..." she wouldn't look him in the eye. "I mean, it can't be known, obviously, but it's not all that bad..."

"Oh so Hermione likes the idea of a secret affair, now does she?" He smirked as he moved on top of her.

"No! No! That's not what I meant!" She smilled. "I just... I dunno. Shut up."

He laughed. "Okay, so we keep it low key, doesn't sound so bad. Just don't distract me from my lessons." He said as he kissed her on the cheek.

"Me? If anything it'd be you who'd be distracting me!"

"Oh yeah, sure." He smiled, then Hermione noticed something. "You're still naked." She stated.

"Yes I am. Are you objecting?" he smirked again.

"No... But not again, not now at least, I'm just after waking up."

"But that's the best time."

"Oh lie down properly, will you?" She smiled as she pushed him off of her.

They were silent for a bit while longer and Draco had just begun drifting back to sleep, when he heard Hermione say; "Draco, you know during the summer in Grimmauld Place, when you saved me?"

"Mmm-hmm?" He nodded, eyes still closed.

"You... you called me a mudblood... and were a bit nasty. But after that, you did a one-eighty or something and started acting like a... like a gentleman."

Draco propped himself up on his elbow, and looked at Hermione.

"What changed?" she asked, finally meeting his gaze.

"To tell you the truth? My dad." She looked confused.

"After that event, my dad found out about it, and found out about what I'd said to you, to which he promptly smacked me upside the head. He said to me; 'These people have saved our lives, we were trying to kill them, yet they still took us in. That type of respect, we'd never have gotten on the dark side. We respect respect in this family, Draco. Now, you treat them with the same kind of dignity they've given us, or you'll be getting another one of those smacks, and this time it'll be coming from your mother. I'v gotten a few of those, and trust me, you don't want one.'"

"Okay, wait. So you were able to take a whole upbringing of beliefs and prejudices and turn them on their head in a day?"

"Well no... not exactly. To tell you the truth, I'd never fully believed the whole 'purebloods are better' thing, I believed it a little, you know, I'd been taught it my whole life, but it was only a little. So that part was easy enough to turn around in a short space of time."

"Huh... to tell you the truth, that surprised me about your dad, he never struck me as the most tollerant of people."

"Oh no. No, no. If you want intollerance, you should've met my grandfather... Abraxas. Now that was intollerance. He died there two years ago, and to tell you the truth, I wasn't really sorry to see him go, neither was my dad."

Hermione looked shocked. "But he was your grandfather."

"Ah you can always tell what kind of family you were raised by with that sort of response. Hermione, you had a very loving family. You can't imagine one of your blood dying and not being missed. It's a completely different story in my sort of situation. When you grow up with someone who dislikes you... alot and is never pleasent in your presence... it's pretty hard to miss them."

He shook his head. "This is rather morbid pillow talk isn't it? How about something else?"

"Like what?"

"Sex?"

"Draco..."

"What? I'm a man. I challenge you to find a man who isn't constantly ready to go. Especially in the morning." Draco reached over to his bedside locker and pulled out his tobacco and such. As he rolled himself a cigarette, he found Hermione watching him with a disaproving eye.

"What?" he said as he lit it with his wand.

"You know those things can kill you, right?"

"What are you talking about?" He asked as he exhaled pink smoke.

"What do you mean, what am I talking about? They're deadly! It's common knowledge they screw up your lungs!"

"Hermione, there has never been any health problems linked to this stuff."

"Hundreds of people die or wind up in hospital because of 'that stuff'!"

"Hospitals? Oh... I think I know what you're thinking about. Hermione, this stuff is different from muggle tobacco, well, it has the same, addictive qualities and such, but there's nothing unhealthy about them at all. They're just a luxury, if you choose to have it."

"Well then why take something that you know is addictive, so?"

"What's life without whimsy? You have to get addicted to something in your life. It's experience. Be it alcohol, chocolate, caffene or drugs. That and it's a way for the company to make money. Just like holidays like Halloween or Valentines Day, they're all created to make money."

"Actually, Halloween comes from the celtic festival of Samhain, celebrating the end of the harvest and the festival of the dead, trick or treating has been around since the Middle Ages too. Plus, Valentines Day, is a celebration for St. Valentine, a catholic preist in Roman times, one story says he went against the Emperors orders and preformed marriges. The Emperor believed married men mad bad soldiers, so banned marriages, but St. Valentine still preformed them, and when he was found out, he was thrown in jail and martyred."

"You're a bloody know it all, you know that?"


	16. Chapter 16

Despite having warned Hermione not to distract him from his studies, and visa versa, he couldn't help but watch his mind wander to their little escapades during particularly boring classes or patrolling. And he could tell she was doing the same. He caught her staring off into the distance with a slight blush on her face, or glancing at him and looking away quickly with a bit of a cheeky grin on her face.

They'd seemed to settle into a routine fairly easily with their new found 'adventures'. Adventures involving little stolen kisses around empty corridors and behind tapestries, three or four times a day. Draco chuckled to himself.

It was a bright a crisp mid-January morning and the Great Hall was freezing. This particular winter season, it was not uncommon to see students eating their breakfast in scarves hats and gloves. Draco was clutching his steaming cup of coffee close to him at the hall that morning. He was pretty sure he could see his breath.

Draco looked up at the sky, it was grey and winding, seems like there's a snow storm coming. Draco jumped when he heard all the bird calls of the morning mail delivery.

Nothing for himself as usual. His parents never really wrote him any more. Just as Draco was a social pariah at school, his parents were social pariahs outside, so generally they'd send the house elves out to do their shopping.

Draco glanced over at the Gryffindor table and noticed the Trio all got letters from one big barn owl. 'Curious, that doesn't usually happen.' He thought. His mind wandered back to his situation with Hermione, he hated to admit it, but being secretive and hiding around the castle to have a few kisses is quite and exciting predicament. He both loved and hated the way she made him feel. On the one hand, it made him feel appreciated and needed once more, but on the other hand it made him feel like a girl. Draco felt like it was customary to blush while thinking about this sort of thing, but he was Draco Malfoy. He didn't do things like that.

The rest of the day in the castle for the students meant huddling around in groups breathing into their gloves, trying to get some warmth in.

Draco was camping behind a tapestry. These secret passageways were a godsend on these cold days. The heavy tapestry fabric stops a lot of draughts getting in. Draco poked his head out from behind the tapestry to see if the coast was clear, and check his watch. Like clockwork, Hermione appeared at the end of the corridor, heading for her next class. Draco hid again and waited for her footsteps to get nearer.

He stuck his arm out from behind the tapestry, grabbed her around the waist and pulled her in. "Draco! What the hell! I have Muggle Studies now."

"It doesn't start for another fifteen minutes, plus I'm freezing, I need warmth." He crouched down, pulled her onto his lap and held her tight.

"Oh come on now Draco, you're acting like a child." She giggled

"I can't help it, Hermione , you turn me into this mess."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. Are you cold?"

"No… I'm quite warm, actually…" Hermione cuddled into him more. He felt his stomach flip and held her closer. It was a bad move on his part, because as he did it, he got a lung full of frizz that was Hermione's hair. He coughed and wheezed and pushed it out of his face.

"Good god, Hermione, your hair gets bloody everywhere." He said as some strands got caught in his five o clock shadow.

"I know, I know, I can't help it."

"Of course you can! You could straighten it, or you know, actually have it in curls. Not somewhere in between the two."

She glowered at him cheekily. "Have you seen how much hair I have? It'd take ages. I'd need to get up two hours earlier."

"Oh please, stop being such a martyr. It won't take fifteen minutes with the right potions and spells." He poked her side. She squeaked and squirmed away from him.

"Why do you know so much about hair Draco? Are you going to tell me how I should wear my make-up now to match my eyes?" she laughed.

"How else do you think I look so perfect all the time? Plus, have you ever met my mother? She won't even come out of her room for breakfast until she looks flawless."

"…Uh huh. Well fine so, I challenge you tonight, to make my hair look better in fifteen minutes. It should be a laugh."

"No problem. What style would you like?"

"Style? Umm… better hair style?"

"I could give you straight, wavy, loose curls, tight curls, barrel curls, large ringlets, small ringlet-"

"Draco… are you sure you're straight?"

"As sure as I can be. I'll show you again tonight just how bloody straight I am." He poked her again tickling her. She giggled and ungracefully fell from his lap.

"Smooth one." He said to her. Hermione stood and checked her watch. "Draco! Class is starting in two minutes."

"Well have fun there. I'm finished for the day." He laughed.

"Oooh, could you put the fire on, so it's lovely and warm when I get back?"

"Sure thing." He kissed her goodbye and the walked out from behind the tapestry.

On his way back to the common room, he felt a chill go down his spine. He stopped and looked over his shoulder. The corridors were empty, there was not a soul in sight, alive or dead, but he couldn't shake the creepiest feeling that he was being watched. Watched by someone or something that's intentions were in no way nice. Draco kept his pace. He did not like the feeling. He was uneasy. But he was still a Malfoy after all. The person watching him would need to think they were having no affect on him, even though it was disturbing. Years of experience told him that no good thing could come from this feeling and it was not to be taken lightly. Paranoia was not always a bad thing.

When he got inside the common room, his feeling of being watched went away. He flicked his wand lighting the fire and jumped onto the couch in front of it. He lay on his back and closed his eyes just for a second. He was absolutely bolloxed.

"Draco."

He awoke with a start, and sat up abruptly, but immediately regretted it, as his head collided with something hard.

"Ow! Ow, ow, ow. What did you do that for?" Hermione said.

He opened his eyes to find Hermione clutching her forehead. She'd obviously been bent over him as she called his name. He sat up, pulled her hand away from her head and sat her down beside him. She put her head on his shoulder, her eyes still closed. Draco put his arm around her and chuckled at her, even though his head was throbbing too.

"You're an idiot." She muttered.

"This was your fault." He said to her jokingly. "Anyway, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at class?"

She sat up straight and looked at him. "My class finished two hours ago, Draco. You were asleep."

"I was not. I literally closed my eyes two seconds ago."

Hermione raised her eyebrow at him. She did that often, he noted to himself. He couldn't help but smile at her. There was a red mark on her forehead where he'd bumped into her. And again, he couldn't help but think to himself how irresistibly cute she looked.

"What?" She asked. "What are you staring at?"

"You."

"Thanks for the information, Sherlock." She said sarcastically. He laughed. Draco pulled her forehead to his lips and kissed the red mark, then kissed her lips.

"Doesn't it just make you gag?" A voice came from the corner. The both jumped, and looked around, about to spring into high alert, but it was only the portrait of Salazar Slytherin.

"Indeed it does." Godric Gryffindor replied to him. Hermione rolled her eyes at them, but smiled.

"So what were you doing after class? In the library, I assume?"

"Isn't that what I'm known for?" Hermione smiled at him again.

"Studying as usual then, Bookworm?" He smiled back at her.

"But of course. I am a fun person after all."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Hey! I'm fun!" she smiled. Hermione decided to change the subject. "So, the hate mail seems to be coming along nicely."

"Hate mail? What do you mean hate mail?"

"The usual stuff we've been getting since Harry won the war. You know, crazy people telling Ron and I that we're unworthy to be friends of Harrys, we don't appreciate him like they would, just the usual thing you'd expect to get after you save the friggin world. Harrys tends to be more sweet. But even so, there's still one or two who'd say we would have been better off with Voldemort."

"That's... " Draco couldn't think of a word to describe it, so he just continued on. "Surely you must be getting some form of fan mail too?"

"Oh yeah, the three of us have had at least five marriage proposals each since the war ended. You tend to get used to the attention after a while and just brush it off. We usually get really expensive gifts or really harmful powders or liquids too, but we just send them back with a little thank you note." She laughed.

"Uh huh... how very normal." Draco was getting his fair bit of hate mail too, but it didn't really bother him too much. He just threw them into the fire. "So, what now? Care for a game of chess?"

"Oh, no." Hermione said. "I don't play. I'm not really a strategy person. I barely even know the rules."

"I'll teach you. Don't worry. The trick is, always try to think three moves ahead of your opponent."

"Excuse me?"

"i know, it sounds hard, but you're a smart girl, Hermione. you'll pick it up... eventually." He smiled.


	17. Chapter 17

They stayed up for hours playing chess. Hermione picked it up very quickly, as Draco knew she would. But she couldn't beat him. And every game she got more and more frustrated.

"Hermione, you're doing really well, but your frustration is clouding your vision."

She looked up at him. She had her haughty determination in her eyes.

"Right, we'll start a new game, and what I want you to do is, watch the moves I make against yours, and you need to look and figure out what I'm going to do next and determine how it'll end."

Hermione breathed and calmed down. She nodded. "Okay."

They began to play. Hermione did as she was advised and paid close attention to what pieces he was moving and where he was moving them. She began to notice a pattern as he was making similar, if not the same moves in every game, forming a barrier around his king and queen using his pawns, bishops and knights.

Hermione thought for a while, puzzling out how they were both going to move. And, as usually happens when everything begins to make sense, it came suddenly to her. In four moves, she was convinced she'd gotten him. She even dared to let a little of her smugness creep onto her face. She glanced up at Draco regularly, hoping to see some panic and surprise in his face. But there was nothing. Just a look of vagueness.

She watched his next move, and felt he heart jump as he moved right into her trap. Perfect! She only had two more moves to make and he was all hers. She moved once more. She had him in Check now.

"Checkmate."

"What?"

"Checkmate."

"But you had no opening for a Checkmate!"

"Hermione, I could see that trap of yours from a mile away. You were so focused on it; you didn't notice the moved I was making around it."

"Chess isn't my type of game! I'm not really a strategist."

"Its okay, Hermione it's only a game."

"It's a game I should've bloody won." She pouted as she folded her arms.

"It's alright, calm down," he smiled. Draco moved over beside her and hugged her. She kept her arms folded. "Are you okay?"

She smiled at him. "Yeah, I'm fine; it was only a stupid chess game."

Draco still didn't look convinced. Hermione sighed. "You're annoying, Draco. Anyway, I seem to remember, you promising me a new hairdo." That caught his attention.

"Oh yeah, that."

"Yeah, that. Draco, if your mother never leaves the room before she's looking immaculate, how on earth do you know what spells and potions she uses on her hair?"

He looked at her disbelievingly. "Hermione, do you really think that I've never been inside my parent's room before? Malfoy Manor isn't exactly the most welcoming place for a young child at night. There were times I got really scared and went to my parent's room to sleep with them, you know. I was young!"

Hermione almost melted. "Awwwww! That is quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever heard." She smiled as she placed her arms around his neck. "I can't believe it. The cold and calculating Draco Malfoy was scared at some point in his life? Unimaginable." She giggled and kissed him.

Draco revealing memories like this to her had become no more surprising to her than his constant slicked back hair. They were as comfortable with each other as it was possible to be. She knew him too well at this point to be much surprised by anything anymore. And visa versa. Even when they were still masked, she founding exceeding easy to talk to him, but she knew for a fact it was because they were both behind masks, as they'd been for most of their lives. 'How dreadfully poetic.' She thought.

"And I remember you promised me gorgeous hair in less than ten minutes."

"Fifteen. And I can't promise 'gorgeous'. Not with this tangled mess of fuzz." He smirked.

"Shut up, you. So, are you going to then?"

Draco sighed, but kissed her with a warm smile, and led her up to his room.

"Alright, sit." He pointed to the chair at his desk.

"There's no mirror."

"Of course there's no mirror. An artist doesn't reveal the masterpiece until it is finished."

Hermione pouted. "I'm your masterpiece?"

"I'll try my best." He sighed with a smile. Draco moved behind Hermione and tapped her head gently with his wand. She could feel her hair all over her head being tugged gently and in all different directions. It felt kind of soothing; she could feel him pull his wand through her hair. She closed her eyes, just feeling the sensation, and relaxing.

It was over all too soon. She'd nearly fallen asleep.

"Hermione?" He kissed her cheek. "Don't you want to see my work of art?"

She opened her eyes. "I suppose I have to now, don't I?" She smiled as she made her way to Draco's bathroom.

When she caught sight of herself in the mirror, she was astonished. Her hair was so… pretty.

It was cascading down her back in long small volumised curls. The colour of it looked different too. It seemed darker than usual. Though that could be attributed to the fact her individual strands of hair were close together than when they were frizzy. It looked almost like dark chocolate.

"Do you like it?" Draco said from the doorway, watching with his usual smug look on his face, which she found she detested less and less.

"Careful now, Mr. Arrogance. I didn't even say whether I did."

"But you clearly do. I can read you like a book, Hermione." He smirked at her.

"Arrogance doesn't suit you, Malfoy, it never did." She tried to look put out, but failed miserably. He laughed. "So, how shall I repay you for this oh so wonderful kind deed you've done for me." Hermione was finding it difficult to not look at her hair in the mirror, but she allowed herself the luxury of constantly touching it, it felt so smooth.

"Well…" Draco said evilly. Hermione immediately regretted what she'd just said.

"I can think of plenty of ways that you could. However, it could involve messing up that beautiful new hair of yours."

"Mind in the gutter, as always."

"You know me." He smirked and walked towards her. She couldn't take her eyes off him, and it seemed to her that it worked both ways. His eyes were burning into hers, igniting a flame inside her. When he got close enough he placed his arms around her neck and continued to stare at her. Oh he did terrible things to her when he looked at her like that. But she loved it. She could help by feel her heart fluttering madly as he leant down and placed his lips beside her ear.

"Care to try some other than the standard bed sex?" He said to her. She was one hundred percent sure that if she spoke, nothing could come out, but a little squeak. Nevertheless she attempted it anyway.

"What did you have in mind?" She surprised herself with her balanced tone. His eyes were still looking into hers with an intensity that only Feindfyre should have. 'You are in way over your head, Hermione.' She thought to herself.

"Well." He whispered, snapping her back to the present. She'd forgotten how close his lips were to her ear. She shuddered. "We've never taken a bath together." He whispered so low, she barely heard him.

Hermione forgot how to breathe.

"That's-" This time when she spoke, her voice was definitely pitched higher. She cleared her throat. "That sounds good…"

Draco flashed a smile and Hermione, once again, felt her heart and lungs stop working. "Draco, you do terrible things to me without even trying."

"I know. I love it." He smiled again.

Hermione moved away from him and begun to gently plait her hair.

"Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing? Delaying?" He smirked.

"No, quite contraire O Conceited One. I'm just keeping my hair out of the way."

In a flash, Draco was in front of her again. He took her hands and put them by her sides.

"Don't." he said as he reached behind her and gently pulled her plait apart. Hermione looked quizzically at him as he scooped her hair over her shoulders and let it fall over her front. "Sex is so much better with your hair down."

Hermione nearly fainted.


	18. Chapter 18

It was Valentine's Day. The school never really celebrated it, save for that one memorable year when Gilderoy Lockhart embellished the castle in pink and sent dwarves around giving valentines to unwilling recipients. Hermione went red just thinking about how she used to fall all over him.

'Purely for his mind, of course.' She thought. Even though a voice in the back of her mind said; 'Although none of it was his.' However, after the war, people were more eager than ever to celebrate life and love. So the school had started to create a new tradition associated with Valentines, just as there was for Christmas and Hallowe'en. And just like Christmas and Hallowe'en, it mainly had to do with food in the Great Hall and being the Heads of the school, she and Draco were required to help with the decorations.

Early on in the morning, before any other students would be out of bed, she and Draco woke up and made their way down to the Great Hall to begin with the professors. As it was only one of the first celebrations of its kind for the holiday in the school, they were still undergoing a bit of a trial period of how to decorate the place, so they were simply told to 'go with what felt natural'. As it is known to every singleton out there, Singles Awareness Day for most was not a day to celebrate, but it was also known that if you are in a relationship, Valentine's Day is a much awaited holiday, and unfortunately for the rest of the school, the two Heads, were currently deep within the throes of early love. If it had been any other couple helping with the decorations, it probably would have been a ridiculously gaudy affair. But Hermione and Draco were practical, so it was decorated, but to a tasteful extent. Something that would have the couples cuddling and the singles not feeling so left out.

By the time the two of them had finished decorating, (which was delayed slightly by the two Heads occasionally stealing glances and getting slightly distracted) it was breakfast time. Hermione and Draco stood back and admired their work. They'd bewitched the Enchanted Ceiling, so that even if it was a miserable rainy day (as usually happened in that part of the county in February), it could be shown to be a beautiful sunny day outside with blue skies and a small number of light wispy clouds. The house tables were strewn with white and lilac rose petals. The drink's served at meals would be different too. Not only would the students still have their pumpkin, orange and apple juice, but there'd be strawberry juice as well, which would be switched for pink champagne or Rosé during dinner, but enchanted so it would only be served to of age wizards. If any underage witch or wizard attempted to pour some out for themselves or drink some, it would turn to strawberry juice. Instead of the usual banners hanging from the ceiling, there were light pastel pink and white streamers hanging, with little fairies sitting atop them. In addition, after dinner, there would be a dessert course, in which hot chocolate and marshmallows would be served as a drink, there would be all manners of cakes and pastries served, each with its own pink, lilac or white flourish to it, along with boxes of chocolates at three feet intervals, and in each box, one chocolate would contain a galleon. It wasn't too much, but it was just enough to give you the feel of a good day. After all, it's very hard to keep Valentines from looking loud and in your face.

"I think we did pretty well." Hermione said to Draco, smiling. He just looked back, contented. The Great Hall was starting to fill up with students now, only about a quarter full, but full enough. Hermione and Draco broke apart to go to their respective house tables, Draco touched Hermione on the arm as they parted, fleetingly. It was only a minute show of affection, but it made her happy.

As she sat at her table and waited for Harry and Ron to appear, she glanced around and saw people taking in the decorations and tentatively trying out the new strawberry juice. She thought she should give it a go herself, and poured herself out some.

"What on earth is that?" Harry said from next to her.

"Strawberry juice. Care to try some?"

"Nope." He said as he sat down.

"More for me." She took a sip of it. "Oh that's delicious." And proceeded to down the rest of the glass. "I may not like the idea of the House Elves slaving away in the kitchens, but they're good at what they do."

Harry nodded and looked around at the decorations. "Well, it's not as bad as I thought it'd be."

"What do you mean; 'as bad'?"

"I dunno. I was expecting pink and red everywhere. I thought it'd be coming out of my ears. But no, this is nice. It's tasteful."

"I swear, sometimes, Harry. It's as if you were created by a woman."

"I kinda was... Lily Potter?"

"Oh, you know what I mean." She smiled.

"Hermione, what's going on with you and Malfoy?"

She froze. She glanced up at him, and then proceeded to eat breakfast, to busy herself. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not blind. I know you. I see the way you act around him. And judging by the way you used to act around him, something has definitely changed."

"Well of course I'm being civil to him, I live with him after all. I'm head Girl, I'm supposed to be setting an example of inter house unity, aren't I?"

"You're being more than civil to him. I know he's not as bad as he used to be, and he wasn't exactly a willing participant in the war, but he was still on the other side. He's dangerous."

"Not any more. He's different, Harry."

"Hermione... are you in a relationship with him?"

She didn't answer.

"I knew it. Right, you're a smart girl Hermione, and I trust your judgment, but that doesn't mean everyone else will. Rumors have already started to fly. People are saying he's cursed you or something."

"Cursed me?"

"For your affection or something like that."

"Oh, that's ridiculous."

"Although, I do have to admit that I'd love to see someone try to curse you for affection. It'd be interesting to see what became of them after you were finished hexing them." He smiled.

Hermione smiled too. "Please don't mention what you know to Ron, he'd be really upset."

"I promise."


	19. Chapter 19

"I'm not so big on the mushy, mushy romance Valentines type thing." Draco said to Hermione after dinner in their common room. "So I hope you weren't expecting much." he smiled.

"Don't worry about it, Draco. What you've done is perfect." Draco had organised for the House Elves to send any uneaten desserts to their common room. For hours they'd been eating, chatting, laughing together and playfully shoving cake into each other's face, which of course ended up in a full on food war between them. Ducking behind tables and chairs and firing food at each other, all the while laughing their heads off. They were now, sitting together laughing over their childishness and cuddling. Draco had chocolate roulade covering half of his face and Hermione had Strawberry Gateau in her hair, along with various other desserts over their bodies and the furniture.

"Do you suppose we should clean this up?" she said to him, laying her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah." He replied. "More than likely. _Scourgify_." He waved his wand and cleaned up the mess. "But Hermione, I did get you something."

"What? Draco, I told you a thousand times, not to. I didn't get you anything."

"Since when do I listen to you, Hermione?" he teased. "You'll like it, I promise." He pulled a rectangular velvet box from the inside of his robes and handed it to her. She opened it slowly and gasped at what she saw. Inside was a beautiful sapphire bracelet outlined with diamond like gemstones.

"I thought it'd go well with the necklace you wore at the ball." He said as he helped her put it on. "It's outlined with Hiddenite gems. They look clear until you hold them up to the light." He took her wrist and held it up. She could see a faint glimmer of green shine through the small gems. Draco started to worry after she didn't say anything. "You do like it, don't you?"

Hermione looked at him. "Well actually, it isn't really my taste," she joked and smacked him lightly on the arm. "Of course I like it. I love it, it's beautiful." Hermione tackled Draco to the floor and kissed him. The two of them spent the next few hours up in Draco's room, discovering new interesting ways to eat the rest of the desserts.

XXX

They awoke the next morning, leg and stomach muscles aching, both a little sticky from having desserts all over them. There was an annoying tap at the window. Draco looked up.

"That's mother's owl." He said, getting up from bed and going to the window. The bird flew away as soon as he took the letter. Hermione could see from her position on the bed, that it was a relatively short letter, but Draco seemed to take a long time to read it.

"Hermione..." she sat up, she didn't like his tone of voice at all. He sounded downcast and very worried. "I think we've hit our biggest bump yet." He handed the letter to her, and sat down on the bed, his back to her. She picked up the parchment.

_**Draco,**_

_**Wonderful news and fortune has come our way. We will be able to bring the Malfoy name back to what it once was and have our pride and respect back. Julius Greengrass has agreed to give his youngest daughter, Astoria's hand to you in marriage. It was no easy feat for your father and I to negotiate this from him. It has taken two months. Last year, he would have come to us. I cannot foresee any reputable reason for you to refuse this gracious arrangement. For if you were to refuse, our family would only be further disgraced and might as well retreat into exile. I trust you'll make the right decision.**_

_**Your Mother,**_

_**Narcissa**_

Hermione felt her heart stop for a second. "Draco... What are you going to do? Are you going to?" She stood and went around the bed to face him. "Draco." She took his face in her hands. When he didn't respond, she began to panic. Was he going to go through with it? He couldn't. He couldn't possibly. He loved her, she was sure of it. But, now that she began to think about it, he'd never said it to her. And though she'd never said it to him either, she was sure he knew it. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she began to think about her future life without him, watching him with his... wife. She couldn't stand it. Damnit, why hadn't he answered her yet?

"Draco!" she sniffled. He looked up at her. She could see so much pain in his eyes. He stood and walked to the window still not speaking. Hermione sat on the bed to steady herself. They stayed like that for what seemed like hours. Hermione stared at him, breathing heavily; a million heart-breaking images flying through her head, and Draco still didn't speak.

He finally turned to her, his face nearly grey with emotion. "Hermione..." he croaked. He jumped to her feet and rushed to him. Draco was the best thing that had happened to her in a long time, and she'd be damned if she lost it.

"I don't know what to do..." he whispered.

"What do you mean you don't know what to do? You can't seriously be considering this!"

"What do you want me to say, Hermione? You know how I feel about you. This isn't the first time my family's reputation has rested on me. And I know the consequences if I refuse. I don't want to leave you. But I don't really have a choice, do I?"

Hermione was outraged. "Excuse me? Of course you have a choice!" she shouted at him.

"I don't, Hermione. If I don't do this my family will be ruined, we'll never be employed again, we'll lose our house, our grounds and our businesses. I have to. There's no leeway about it. I have to marry her. You have no idea the amount of emphasis family pride has among our society and the purebloods. If I refuse, our name will be slandered forever more and we'll never get our old stature back. I wouldn't expect you to understand, you grew up in the muggle world."

Hermione just stood there with her mouth open, ready to explode. How dare he? How _dare_ he? She couldn't speak. She felt her blood run cold, then boil a second later. She just stood there, unable to form words, her rage so overwhelming. She was two seconds away from hitting him hard in the face. Not a stupid little slap, this time, a full on punch in the face is what he deserved. Instead she turned on her heel, and nearly ran to her room, slamming the doors so hard; she nearly knocked the portraits off the walls. When she got inside she didn't know what to do; to throw herself onto her bed and weep until her eyes ran dry or to pick up anything within reach and fire it around the room. She just stood in the middle of her room, both raging and devastated. She screamed. A scream so loud and high pitched it scared the birds off the roof. Hermione would later recall that she'd never ever in her entire life been so enraged. She looked around the room, and not finding anything fragile like glass to fire around the room, she ripped her wand from her pocket and began to blast her furniture to splinters. Anything in her room that was breakable was broken. As she aimed her wand for her bed, she caught sight of the sapphire bracelet on her wrist. She started at it for five full seconds before she felt the most horrible pain she could ever imagine. She never understood why people described it as a breaking heart, but she knew now, it literally felt like someone had savagely ripped it from her chest and torn it to shreds. There was the biggest lump in her throat imaginable, she felt like she couldn't breathe and she began shaking uncontrollably. Hermione collapsed into a heap on the floor and cried for hours, clutching the bracelet to her chest.


	20. Chapter 20

It was a week since that damming letter had arrived and Draco hadn't seen Hermione once throughout that week. He didn't know if she was still in her room or if she was only going to the classes which didn't involve him. Walking down an empty corridor, he was suddenly grabbed and pulled into an empty classroom. Before he could get his bearings, he found a wand pointed directly in between his eyes and Harry Potter standing before him, looking livid.

"What have you done to Hermione?" He hissed.

"It's none of your business, Potter. You wouldn't get it." He turned to leave, but Harry used a sticking charm, so he was stuck where he stood. Harry kept his want level with Draco's head.

"Oh, I understand, Malfoy." His voice overflowing with venom and malice. "I know you two were together, and I know just how deep it went. I don't know what you said or did to her, but you're about to tell me right now. "

"Why don't you ask her?" He said, reaching into his pocket. Quick as a flash, Harry had his wand stuck underneath Draco's jaw.

"Take your hand out of your pocket." Draco did. Harry reached into his pocket and removed Draco's wand and put it into his own back pocket. Harry moved closer, so their noses were touching. They were the same height and the same build, perfectly matched for a brawl. The look on Harry's face was terrifying. "You know very well why I can't ask her. She won't speak to anyone. She's not eating, she's not sleeping, she's not studying. At all. Malfoy, she's already dropped drastically in weight and is a ghost of her former self. Now I'll ask you again. _What did you do_?"

"I broke up with her, that's all." Draco said, as me made to move away, the sticking charm was wearing off. Harry grabbed him roughly by the arm, and shoved him violently back into the wall.

"No, no, no, no. That's not an answer. It was much more than a simple break-up." Harry had his wand pointed at Draco's crotch right now. "Make no mistake, Malfoy, I could blow your balls off right now, and I'd still get a job as an Auror. I don't need this last year of school. Being a war hero has its advantages."

"Fine, Potter, fine. I'm engaged to Astoria Greengrass. I found out last week. Hermione was there when I got the news. She asked me if I was going to choose her or Astoria, and I had to say Astoria. Happy now?"

"Malfoy, I will not have you toying with my best friends emotions like she's some common tart."

"I never intended this to happen, Potter. My mother arranged the marriage for me to bring the Malfoy name back. Hermione didn't take it very well."

Harry chuckled darkly. "Really?"

"What do you want me to do, Potter? Disgrace my family and become penniless? I can't do that."

"There's no chance of you getting out of it?"

"No. Are you actually _trying_ to convince me to get back with her?"

"Malfoy, Hermione is practically my sister. As much as I hate you, you made her happy... somehow. "

"Yes, Potter, I am aware. This arrangement is as much fun for me as it is for her." With that, Draco stormed out of the room, not caring if Harry threw hexes after him. He didn't.

XXX

Less than a week after that event, Hermione started appearing again. She began to go to meals and classes. Draco couldn't stop watching her, but she never looked his way. Wherever he went, he was accompanied by Astoria. He was courting her now, and they had to be seen together.

Hermione used all her will to not glance over to Draco, with Astoria on his arm. It would only cause her to break down in tears again. Thinking back on how she reacted when she first found out; she couldn't believe how immature she'd acted. It embarrassed her to think about it. Hermione had her heart irrevocably broken and it would never completely heal again. She'd decided that she needed a change. She was going to change. She would no longer be her boring self. She needed to become more exciting. She needed to grow up. And right now, she was on the rebound. A drastic rebound, with Ron.

She'd gone from one extreme to the other. Gone from goody goody Granger to flirting and missing classes Granger. She was hoping desperately that this would distract her from ever thinking about Draco ever again. Harry watched her flirt shamelessly with Ron and thought 'It's just a phase... it's just a phase... But if she doesn't snap out of it soon, I bloody well will.' Harry knew that Hermione would realise in time she'd made a fool of herself. But she'd been ripped apart as a victim of circumstance, and people heal in strange ways.

XXX

It was months after that day, and Hermione was beginning to realise who she was again. It was May 2nd. Time for the unveiling of the commemoration to the War. All the students were gathered outside; the statues were hidden by a large purple silk cloth and a raised platform behind them.

Headmistress McGonagall stood and spoke with her magically enhanced voice to the crowd.

"Students and staff, today is the second anniversary for one of the worst wars that has ever occurred in magical history. Thousands were lost on both sides. Some were friends and some were family. But they did not die in vain. We were victorious, even though it didn't feel like much of a victory after all those who'd been lost over the years." She reached over and pulled the purple fabric away, and revealed the statues. As she did this the roses Neville had been working on, Speciosus Victoria sprouted from the grass they were all standing on, wherever there was space, and began to bloom.

"We have prepared a song to be played in memory, as music and lyrics can often express much more than mere words."As McGonagall stepped down from the stage two women stepped up solemnly. As the music started, their voices were magnified. They sung with beautiful voices;

_I've heard it said_

_That people come into our lives for a reason_

_Bringing something we must learn_

_And we are led_

_To those who help us most to grow_

_If we let them_

_And we help them in return_

_Well, I don't know if I believe that's true_

_But I know I'm who I am today_

_Because I knew you_

_Like a comet pulled from orbit_

_As it passes a sun_

_Like a stream that meets a boulder_

_Halfway through the wood_

_Who can say if I've been changed for the better?_

_But because I knew you_

_I have been changed for good_

It well may be

That we will never meet again

In this lifetime

So let me say before we part

So much of me

Is made of what I learned from you

You'll be with me

Like a handprint on my heart

And now whatever way our stories end

I know you have re-written mine

By being my friend...

Hermione looked around. The majority of the student and teachers at this time were weeping silently.

Like a ship blown from its mooring

By a wind off the sea

Like a seed dropped by a sky bird

In a distant wood

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?

But because I knew you

_Because I knew you_

She spotted Draco.

_I have been changed for good_

Then he turned and looked at her.

And just to clear the air

I ask forgiveness

For the thing I've done you blame me for

_But then, I guess we know_

_There's blame to share_

_And none of it seems to matter anymore_

She looked down. She couldn't stand it. All those emotions she'd felt came back with a vengeance, and if she'd kept eye contact.

_Like a comet pulled from orbit_

_As it passes a sun_

_Like a stream that meets a boulder_

_Halfway through the wood_

Like a ship blown from its mooring

By a wind off the sea

Like a seed dropped by a bird in the wood

_Who can say if I've been_

_Changed for the better?_

_I do believe I have been_

_Changed for the better_

_And because I knew you..._

Because I knew you...

She felt someone's hand brush against her bracelet. The bracelet Draco had given her. She looked down a little panicked. Good, they hadn't tried to steal it. She looked up at who it was. It was Draco. But he had only brushed her arm in passing. He hadn't stopped. She'd lost sight of him now.

_Because I knew you..._

_I have been changed for good _

She looked down at her bracelet. It was broken! The main sapphire was hanging off. She brought it up to her eyes hurriedly, hoping to repair it, when she noticed it was on a hinge. Oh thank god. It wasn't broken. She was about to place it back when she noticed words engraved on the silver below it. She looked as close as she could, squinting. The writing was very small. She finally saw it. And silently capped the sapphire back. She exhaled and let a little smile slip through.

_I love you._


	21. Epilouge

**Epilogue – Spring 2010**

* * *

Hermione was enduring yet again, the usual hustle and bustle that came about the Burrow every Sunday morning. After Hermione had married Ron, Mr and Mrs. Weasley had insisted that she begin to call them mum and dad. She was embarrassed and felt so foolish for the first year or and a bit, but, though she'd never admitted it, it gave her a wonderful homely feeling.

"Hermione, could you pass me out those plates, darling?" Mrs. Weasley called to her from the opposite end of the kitchen. Hermione pulled them out and floated them over to her.

They both spent a few more minutes in the kitchen, preparing the weekly Sunday family dinner when Hermione thought of something. "Hey mum?"

"Yes dear?"

"Do you know what time Ron'll be back?"

"It's hard to know, he still hasn't left work." She said, giving her famous clock a glance.

"But it'll be getting dark soon…"

There was a great banging from above, as someone came running full pelt down the stairs.

"Who ever that is, if ye break the stairs again, you'll be fixing it this time, without magic!" Mrs. Weasley yelled. The pounding stopped, they could hear could hear the person still making their way down hurriedly, but much quieter.

"Hermione?" It was Harry. "Hermione, could you come with me a second please, it's important."

"Is everything alright?" Hermione and Mrs. Weasley said at the same time.

"Yeah, yeah, nothing too serious, just work stuff."

"Okay." Hermione nodded and wiped her wet hands off her apron. "I'll be back in a second, mum." She followed Harry upstairs, she nearly had to take the stairs two at a time to keep up with them. He led her all the way up to the attic where the ghoul had once been, slammed the door and locked it behind them.

"Harry?"

There was no light in the room, save for a tiny box in the middle of the room a soft golden glow was emanating inside of.

"Harry, what on earth is going on? I thought you were looking after the kids with Ginny?"

"Okay… ehm… well…" Harry was pacing up and down the room, occasionally obscuring the light from the box. "You remember that thing the other Aurors and I were working on? The one we consulted you on, you told us to discontinue?"

"No, Harry, you didn't..."

"Well, we got it to work anyway… you can see the selected persons future quite clearly now."

"Harry, what did I tell you? You can't mess with time! The multitude of things that could go wrong is unimaginable!"

"Shhh! But we're not messing with time, we're not actually going into the future… just… observing it, you know, so we can see what the enemy's up to."

"Harry… What did you do?"

"Don't worry! It's nothing too serious. But well you know we all tried it on ourselves first, to make sure it worked? Well we thought we might need to try it on someone outside the Auror office to see if it'd still work… and I kinda tried it on… you."

"Harry, what did you do to my future?"

Harry could swear he could see her eyes flash red in the dark. "Nothing! Nothing! I just thought you should see what I saw…"

"No, no, Harry, I can't look into my future… it's too dangerous."

"Hermione… please… please," he put his hands on her shoulders. "You're my sister, you have to trust me."

She sighed. "Okay, okay, okay… I'll kill you if this goes wrong."

He nodded and they walked over to the box, he picked it up and said; "All you need to do, is look inside."

"How will it know it's my future?"

"Um… Your hair sample…"

"My hair sample? You know what, I don't even want to know." Hermione took the box from him and opened it.

She felt her feet leave the attic floor and was sucked into the box, as she looked up, the lid closed above her and she was in a kitchen.

"… Harry? Hello?" She looked around, inspecting. "I wouldn't mind a kitchen like this," she muttered. "It's a nice bloody kitchen." She smiled, looked around again, and noticed an open door with a faint light outside of it. As she went to inspect, she looked to her left and saw a closed pair of double doors with the same faint light coming out of it. She continued her inspection, outside the single door was a wide dark open hallway. Hermione shivered. It was a really creepy hallway, there was only one source of light, and that was coming from an open door not too far down with an orangey-yellow light; a tell tale sign of a lovely warm fire.

As she approached the door, she could swear she head her own voice, come from the room with the fire in it.

"It'll just go and check on the cake!"

Hermione jogged back to the kitchen and finally caught sight of herself, pulling a hot chocolate cake out of the fancy oven. "Ooooh… smells lovely."

"Um… Hello…?" Past Hermione called. "Can you see me...? Hear me…? No…? Okay then."

Past Hermione sat down at the island counter and watched her older self fuss over the cake. When Future Hermione finally turned to face Past Hermione, she got a good look at herself for the first time.

"Woah Hermione, what have you done to yourself, you need to lose some years." Future Hermione looked at least ten years older. She looked right into her future-self's eyes, just as she did this, her future self looked up and looked her dead in the eye too. Past Hermione was frozen, staring herself in the face, but after a few seconds, the Future Hermione broke out of her stare and simply whispered to herself; "Weirdest déjà vu of my life."

"Hermione, love? How's the cake coming? Did you burn it?" a familiar male voice called cheekily from the hallway.

"Quiet you!" Future Hermione called back, smiling.

Past Hermione was so engrossed in watching her future self; she didn't notice the owner of the male voice enter the kitchen. Only when he circled the island counter and wrapped his arms around Future Hermione, did Past Hermione get a good look at him.

And when she did, she felt her breathing catch, she couldn't swallow and her heart stopped for two beats and then picked up double time.

"Draco…" she whispered.

Future Hermione was still fooling around with Future Draco.

"No, see, look, not burned at all. Perfect cake." She smiled.

"Made by a perfect housewife, yeah?"

"Yeah, aren't you happy you married me now?" She laughed and kissed him. Past Hermione's heart was breaking, tears were welling up in her eyes, that vision there of a possible future for the two of them, was the single most painful thing she'd ever had to witness.

"You may be forty-one, but you're still the hottest thing going." He teased.

"Shut up, you, I'm sure the kids probably wouldn't appreciate hearing that."

Hermione choked on the air in her own lungs. Kids?

Watching all of this… a monster had a hold of her heart through her chest and was trying its mightiest to pull it from her chest. That is how Hermione felt. She looked up, saw the box opening, next thing she knew she was on her knees back in the attic clutching her chest and hyperventilating. It hurt… it really hurt. Years of pent up denial and avoiding of her deepest darkest feelings all came flooding out at once and it felt as though someone was pounding her heart with a sledgehammer. She didn't register, Harry kneeling next to her and putting his arms around her, or his Lumos, all she could take in was that there was a floor beneath her and she was so heartbroken she couldn't even cry. The only other thing she knew, was that she was still well and truly madly in love with Draco Malfoy.

* * *

**Sequel? **


End file.
